Sarah Raffuse

Improvising New Stitches

2009-07-29T15:29:00.004-08:00

Perhaps I'm a little OCD but I get really annoyed at stitches that only go to one side when I am centered on my seam line. For example #78 & #80 below- the the hearts and stars all face the same direction.

So I use 2 functions of my sewing machine to improvise the stitches that I want. I have a programmable memory on my machine that will store up to 30 stitches so when I want to use the star stitch (#80) I put 1 repeat of the star in the memory and then I use the mirror image function on my machine (it looks like a half circle with a dotted line mirror image half circle facing it)

and I program in 1 repeat of the mirror image of the star. I leaves the rest of the spaces in the memory blank so when I stitch it just alternates between the star and the mirror image of the star and now it looks like this:

When I want to do the hearts I just clear out the memory and repeat the process for that stitch:

I even tried it with my blanket stitch. Here's what it normally looks like (#63):

and after I alternate it in the memory:

and when I'm really bored I just combine several different stitches in the memory- here's 1 heart 1 star and 1 flower:

I just thought I'd share that incase you have these functions on your machine too but haven't tried them- you can have a lot of fun with them!

Ready for Quilting

2009-07-28T23:11:00.004-08:00

I made the last cut and got my blocks basted so they are now headed towards the pile of blocks that are ready to be quilted.

What other projects are in that pile? I was wondering that myself and after a quick search it looks as if there are only 2 other projects in that pile now:

the one I started last fall with hand dyed fabrics

and one I started many years ago as an experiment. I had some metallic fabric that I wanted to try out and figured it would be the perfect project to try metallic threads on too.

It's been a learning experience. Mostly I learned I will never use metallic threads for decorative stitching again.

I think I'm going to make a goal of finishing the metallic one in time to put it in this year's CASA auction in November.

P.S. The blue & yellow one I was wondering what I should do with is headed to my dad's cousin who was recently in a terrible car accident.

Works in Progress

2009-07-26T21:56:00.002-08:00

I got bored finishing projects I had already started and decided to start a couple of new quilts. The first one is another project using charm squares but this time I'm only doing one cut per charm and I'm putting nine charms together to form a block instead of four. I'm leaving the center charm in each block a solid piece of fabric and I'm going to use that same fabric for the sashing later.
Here's a pic of the charms before I cut them:

after the 1 cut:

Here they are pieced back together, now I just need to sew the 9 charms together:

The other project I started is the same cuts as my mom's "Warm chocolate Wrap" from our book but I'm making it twin sized and using some blue & yellow plaids that I've had for a few years. Here's a pic of my blocks with 5 cuts in them- I still have one more cut to do:

I'll try to make some progress and post again in a couple of days.

Easy to Go Crazy

2009-07-02T21:02:00.003-08:00

I finished another one! I'm feeling very productive all the sudden! This one is the same as one of the quilts in our book only slightly different fabrics. The one in the book was made by my mother so I wanted to make one myself. There are seven quilts in the book that my mom made using cuts I haven't tried and I'd like to try them all eventually.
I'm having a bit of a dilemma about what to do with this quilt so I thought I'd put my options out there to see what you guys think. Option #1: Give it to an acquaintance who just had a baby (I don't know this person very well, so I'm worried it might be weird if I give her a quilt) Option #2: Put it in the charity quilt auction in November (which will make it a tax write off) #3: Save it for Christmas and give it to an as-of-yet-undecided person on my shopping list or #4: Try to sell it on Etsy. Thoughts?

close up:

back:

Weekend Fun

2009-06-28T21:49:00.002-08:00

We've had some beautiful weather this weekend and we've been out enjoying it and I thought I'd share some of the photos:
The beach at Kincaid

Face painting at the Saturday market

Audrey was very proud of her Frosty

More fun at the Saturday market- Audrey's turn to paint

Shortcake

2009-06-25T23:02:00.003-08:00

I just got my camera back from the repair shop! I'm so happy to have it home and it arrived right in time to show you the quilt I just finished. It's from my mom's Shortcake pattern which only takes 1 layer cake and 1 yard of fabric for the sashing & binding. It's fast and easy and I think it will be the perfect gift for a little girl I know that is turning 2 in August.
front:

close up:

back:

Pyramids

2009-05-29T18:04:00.002-08:00

This is from a class I took at Seams Like Home about 2 years ago I think. So it's really a newbie to my UFO pile, but quilting a lapsize quilt seemed really appealing after that flannel beast. This pattern is usually called either 1,000 Pyramids or 10,000 Pyramids, I forget which, and has a ton of bias to deal with. It didn't stretch too bad although next time I will use a heavier hand with the starch before I cut my pieces out. And yes, you heard me right, I liked it so much I think I will make another one! Not right away- I'm not ready to give up on my battle against the UFO's- but I am starting to plan.

You can sort of see my quilting lines if you look really closely. I did a zig zag pattern following the same angle of the triangles (it reminds me of Charlie Brown's shirt).

And for the back I found a really cool varigated striped batik. All the fabrics on the front are batik too.

I've decided to give this one to a family member with a birthday in June- I hope she likes blue!

Flannel Finale!

2009-05-29T17:53:00.002-08:00

It's finally done- and weighs in at just over 4 pounds! As you can see what started out as a full size quilt covers the top of my king size mattress.

I did swirls in the inner border and at my mom suggestion I went around the moons & stars in the outer border in a blue thread that just disappears. It's certainly not perfect but it's done and I'm happy!

You can sort of see the star in the center and the straight lines going through the bow ties.

On to the next UFO!

Home Imporvements

2009-04-21T21:53:00.002-08:00

I painted one wall in my house blue- it's about the same color as that painter's masking tape. I have been wanting to paint for a while but I couldn't decide what color, but just over a week ago I decided blue is what I want and just went for it- stayed up all night and into the wee morning hours (5am to be exact) just to get it done in one night. I'm quite happy with it- it makes me smile every time I look at it.

That project went very well so I decided to tackle another project I have been dreaming of for a while: an awning. My back deck has a roof over it that has exposed beams showing. These beams turn into a breeding ground for spiders in the summer so I usually end up avoiding spending time on the deck. Here's what it looked like before:

So I decided to order some outdoor fabric from JoAnn's and staple it to the beams. I loved the idea of a black & white stripe- it it reminds me of a restaurant awning.

I also love looking out the window of my blue wall at the striped awning.

Next up on my list of things to tackle: sand down my kitchen cabinets and paint them white and spray all the hardware silver (currently I have medium to darkish wood cabinets and brass hardware).

P.S. Again I apologize about the blurry photos. I am trying to track down my old digital camera until I get this one fixed but apparently I put it somewhere REALLY safe in one of my cleaning sprees.

Sewing Studio Update

2009-04-18T13:42:00.003-08:00

Okay, I did a little straightening up. But I wanted you to see what it really looks like when I'm sewing in there- it never stays this clean. The best part of a clean sewing room is messing it up again right?

I apologize for the blurry photos- I dropped my camera the other day and now I can't get it to focus =(

Studio Tour

2009-04-10T00:01:00.005-08:00

Sooooo... Here is a guided tour of the mess that I call my sewing room:

This is the view when you open the door

That cabinet you see with all the junk on it? That's my cutting table. And inside the cabinet?:

Piles of fabric and a serger that I've only used once or twice (the serger is in the red bag). And just incase you missed it here's a close up of the mess on top of the cutting table:

On the far side of the cutting table under the window is another shelf filled with fabric and a rack for my pressing pad and cutting mats in the corner:

Here is my sewing table- you can see my little helper pushing various buttons on my machine for me. When sitting in front of my machine my back is touching the edge of the cutting table:

Above my sewing table is a peg board that holds some of my threads and rulers:

To the right of my sewing table is my bookshelf:

The bottom 2 shelves are filled with quilting books, the middle shelf is patterns (I'm not a big pattern buyer) and some fabric and the top two shelves are all fabric. To the left of the shelf is a roll of organic batting that I bought but haven't used yet, so it's still in the box, and on top of the bookshelf (not in the picture) is a case of stuffing (for a puff quilt that I'm going to make someday in the future). The right side of the bookshelf buts up to the closet:

I took the doors off the closet for easier access. On the left is my Bernina ironing board with a built in vacuum so your fabric stays put (I almost never use this) and behind that is a cabinet with 2 shelves. The cabinet has about 6 yards of terry cloth that was for a robe I never made and the drawers hold various fusible webs that are probably dried out and brittle by now. The shelf/drawer system on the right is mostly filled with unfinished projects and the bottom area (mostly out of the picture) is holding 10 bolts of linen that I purchased to make quilts yet but currently are still in their plastic wrap.
And last but not least is a cabinet in Audrey's room that I never emptied out when we switched rooms (I used to have a much larger sewing room but for some reason that I'm finding hard to remember right now I decided she should have the larger room, so we switched)

This cabinet is mostly filled with fatquarter packs that are still wrapped up exactly as I purchased them. It makes me happy to see all those pretty little bundles though. I hope you enjoyed peeking in my sewing room- I can't wait to see everyone elses!

Kinley's Quilt

2009-03-30T16:00:00.005-08:00

I've been feeling a little under the weather and I didn't feel like wrestling with the jumbo flannel quilt yesterday so I put the binding on another project that has been sitting around for awhile.

It's pretty small (39.5" square) but it's a gift for an infant, so that's ok. It started out as an experiment to see how our slash and sew method works with charm squares. I did 2 cuts in each charm and then put four of the squares together before I quilted them. You may recognize the quilt from a previous post about the organic thread and backing fabric I used in it. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and am very glad to have another project out of my sewing room.

Snowball Quilt

2009-03-27T16:51:00.004-08:00

I found a fabric to use on the back:

(the one on the left is the new one, the one on the right is the one I already had)
And I started on the quilting. It's kinda hard to see, but I'm putting stars in the snowball area with yellow thread.

I'm not completely sure how I'm gong to quilt the bow tie area. For now I'm just glad that I'm still working on it and not shoving it back in the closet for a few more years. =)

Oh, and I almost forgot:

I saw this quilt at Seams Like Home when I was shopping for my backing. I'm not sure who made it, but I love it! (It's from the pattern Bright Idea from my book)

Second Thoughts

2009-03-12T17:05:00.003-08:00

I made this quilt top about 6 years ago and just got around to putting the borders on today. The fabric was all purchased at the same time, I just put the top and the border fabric in the back of the closet before getting the borders on. So now it is ready to be basted and quilted and the more I look at it the more I wonder what I was thinking when I picked out the fabrics!?! The pattern is "Lunchtime!" from the book "More Quilts for Baby Easy as ABC" by Ursula Reikes and is made of alternating 4-patch and snowball blocks. The green from the 4 patch blends into my snowball block and the yellow inner border feels much too bright for the rest of the quilt. Live and learn, right? On top of that, I didn't buy enough backing fabric or anything to bind it with so now I need to go track down something that works (the quilt is all flannel fabrics which limits my choices quite a bit). If you have any suggestions for how to quilt it that might improve the look let me know- I hope to start working on the quilting next week. Just a warning though-I am opposed to unsewing- I'd rather live with a less than gorgeous but functional quilt than torture myself with unsewing.

Dall Sheep

2009-01-10T15:55:00.003-09:00

I was on my way to drop Audrey off in Seward the other day and had to stop and take a pic of these sheep- it's been a long time since I've seen so many together.

Pillowcases for Dana

2008-12-27T00:00:00.001-09:00

A sewing project I actually finished before Christmas:

some pillowcases for my cousin Dana, I hope she likes them.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T00:00:00.001-09:00

2008 Gingerbread Houses

2008-12-24T01:22:00.003-09:00

Every year Ryan's siblings get together and make gingerbread houses. Here are a few photos of everyone hard at work:

Click here to see pics of the finished projects.

and I just had to include this picture of Audrey at a Christmas party we were at the other night.

Kathy Harte & Judy Wedemeyer

2008-12-07T21:04:00.008-09:00

My friends Kathy Harte & Judy Wedemeyer are having a show of their quilts and Jewelery. I stopped by during their opening for First Friday and took pictures of their quilts so you could see them too, but if you have the chance, see them in person because the beautiful quilting doesn't show up very well in my photos. Their show is at the Elim Cafe on the corner of Arctic & Dimond (in the same strip mall as Gallo's and Los Margaritas.)

No more phone books

2008-12-02T23:42:00.003-09:00

I just found out about this website where you can sign up to stop receiving all those unwanted phone books on your door step (mine go straight to the recycling bin) If you decide you want a phone book later you can always pick one up at the phone company for free. Brilliant idea if you ask me.

http://www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org/stop-yellow-pages/

Results from 2008 CASA auction

2008-11-24T09:54:00.002-09:00

Well, the auction is over and it made even more money than last year so I think it's a success. I had 5 quilts in that raised $295 all together. Not bad but someday I'd like to be one of the people who has a single quilt go for over $200 (I've got to have higher and higher goals every year, right?)
I took pictures of all of the quilts in the auction so if you want to take a virtual tour click here.

2 Down (a million UFOs to go)

2008-11-12T23:47:00.003-09:00

I actually finished a couple things last night! These 2 quilts are very small wall hangings (about 8"x 11" I think) but it's still 2 less UFOs in my sewing room! They are raw edge fusible applique from patterns by Carolee Pollock. We will see what tomorrow holds- maybe I have time to finish one more thing before the CASA deadline.

2008 CASA Quilt Auction

2008-11-11T15:40:00.002-09:00

November is the month CASA's for Children has their annual silent quilt auction- the auction is Saturday November 22 this year but their deadline for receiving donated quilts is Nov. 15. So I have 4 days left to try and finish another project or two (I already have a lap quilt and a tablerunner done, but I'd like to turn in more than that.) Here's a little information in case you haven't heard about the CASA organization before:

(from their quilt donation form)
"CASA's for Children is a non-profit organization supporting activities and projects involving abused and negelected children in Alaska. CASAs for Children is dedicated to the support, regognition and continuing education of Cort Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) and promotes public awarness of the CASA Program. Please visit www.alaskacasa.org for more information"

It's a good cause and I always have high hopes of turning in several projects (thus reducing the amount of UFOs taking up space in my sewing room at the same time) but what usually happens is I miss the deadline by a few days and end up saving them for the next year's auction. Lets hope this year turns out a little differently =)

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T00:01:00.000-08:00

Houston Quilt Market 2008

2008-10-28T18:08:00.004-08:00

Well, we made it back from Houston last night. We had a good time- I gave a 30 minute speech during a program they call "Schoolhouse". During schoolhouse they have about 20 rooms with rotating speakers, from 10am to 6pm there are 15 sessions- some 30 min. some 15 min.-with new presentations in each room for each session (occasionally a speaker will get 2 sessions, but not often) so basically you're in competition with the speakers in the other rooms during your session to try and have as many listeners as possible (the more that listen the more that will go back and teach your stuff in their hometown!) Sometimes you are also competing against your time slot- I was in session 14 almost the end of the program when a lot of people are tired and leaving early, and the lunch time sessions are even rougher because there is no break when everyone stops, you just have to miss a session if you want to eat lunch. I was quite excited that around 60 people showed up to hear about our book, last year when I did this we had about 40 people (and I even had a better time slot then) so it's nice to know there's still a lot of interest.
I also taught a take & teach class. The take & teach program is a 1.5 hour class that is meant to offer people a hands on experience of new techniques/books/tools so they can go back to their local stores and teach it themselves and hopefully bring a sample home with them to help them remember the process or even to use as their sample for the class. An hour and a half is not a lot of time to make anything so you almost always have to miniaturize your project, and at quilt market almost everyone has traveled quite a ways to attend and there is no way to provide a supply list to them in advance so as a teacher you have to provide everything: You have to arrange things in advance with a sewing machine company if your students need machines in class, you have to provide all fabric, thread and batting, I don't even like to assume that students are bringing their own rotary cutters or rulers because I've been to so many where people forgot them. So we scrounged up every rotary cutter, cutting mat and ruler we had, my mom provided all the fabric and batting and did all the work of pre-cutting them, the generous people at Sulky provided beautiful thread for the decorative stitching and Bernina not only provided sewing machines and accessories they also had two wonderful helpers in the classroom with us to answer any questions about the machines. (below is a pic of our fantastic educators from Bernina)

The students made a small wall hanging out of 4 squares that were 8"x10" each and we were quite impressed at how quickly the students worked and how much they accomplished in such a short time. It was a full class (registration is limited to 25 in these classes) I even heard from someone that they had tried to sign up for our class when they sent in their registration and were turned away because it was already full. We were kind of shocked by that- I was planning on trying to create more interest in the class during my schoolhouse lecture to get some last minute sign ups but that turned out to be unnecessary so we just left it out. But the best part about the full class is that it really supports us in asking to come back and do it again next year! (below is a picture of our hard working students)

Our last engagement while we were down there was a 1hr. demo at the Krause booth. They gave away about 12 books and we explained the highlights of the book to anyone who was walking by and would stop long enough to listen. (below is a pic of our demo- it's kinda like "Where's Waldo?"- can you see my head in the middle?)

We also finally made it to Krause's author's breakfast (an event they hold every Quilt Market but we haven't been able to attend before) and even got to sit at the same table as Nancy Zieman (of Nancy's Notions). We met Joanie Zeier Poole who does phenomenal heirloom quilting and Maggie Ball who has a new book out on how to make a bargello quilt with blocks!

Maybe I should back this up a little bit and explain what quilt market is for those who don't already know. Quilt Market is a trade show for people in the quilting industry. They hold it twice a year: the fall show is always in Houston TX and the spring show alternates between other cities (Portland OR earlier this year, Pittsburgh next year) This show is not open to the general public, you either need to be registered with one of the vendors or as a buyer. To register as a buyer you have to send in your credentials (they require a business license, a business card, and an invoice that you've spent at least $300 with a quilting distributor if I remember right) sooo- how do you attend if you don't work for a vendor and you're not a quilt shop owner? Well, if you teach at a quilt shop you could attend with the people that work there or if no one is going ask the shop owner if they would send in their credentials and let them know you would pay all fees, or I believe you can get in for 1 year if you say you are planning on opening a quilt shop in the near future (there may be more info you need to provide for that one, but I'm not sure).
What happens at quilt market?
Day #1: there is usually a tour of the quilt shops in the area (I have never attended this event)

Day #2: the schedule for the schoolhouse is released around 9:30am and schoolhouse goes from 10am-6pm (getting the schedule as soon as it comes out is a good strategy when you are there with several people so that you can make sure that someone is in all the most interesting lectures each session and you can all learn different things and report beack to the others at the end of the day- what they should look into and what they shouldn't waste their time on) there is usually a lecture or two offered from 6-8pm but signing up for that is a rookie mistake because this is the night for sample spree which starts at 8pm but the line starts forming at 6pm. Sample spree is a large ballroom with tables set up for select vendors to sell their products at wholesale prices with no minimum purchase and you take your purchase with you when you buy. Basically the room is filled mostly with fabric companies selling packs of fat quarters, but there are a few tables for patterns and books and threads. Why would you want to buy here instead of in your quilt shop? A lot of the fat quarter packs are of fabrics that haven't even arrived in the shops yet, so you could take some home with you and have a sample already made up when the fabric arrives in the store. Or if you're a fabric hoarder (like myself) it's a great way to bulk up your stash for half the price. Whatever your plans are this is THE place to be at market- the biggest crowd at the whole show. People usually start straggling out after 9pm and if you didn't happen to register early enough to get into sample spree (because this sells out in advance every year) you can wait and pay at the door- once people start coming out they start letting other people in.

Days #3,4 &5: Take & Teach classes are offered from 8-9:30am (if you have a free morning you can check the board next to registration to see what classes still have room available and sign up then) 9am-6pm Market floor is open. The floor usually has 20-30 aisles that go across the convention center and is filled with every quilting distributor, fabric company, thread company, batting company and quilting book publisher along with newcomers every year-new pattern makers, new tools, self published books- this is where you find great products that you might not have heard of otherwise. You can place orders here but most everything will be shipped to you, and most places have a minimum order they require. On one of the evenings Bernina does a fashion show, but I don't hink it's the same each year, and on another night Moda throws an invitation only dinner so if you can snag an invite to that make sure to attend.

By the end of all of that you're completely exhausted and ready to go home (even if it is only 10 degrees outside!)

Results

2008-10-06T15:47:00.003-08:00

So here is how I ended up putting that quilt together:

This layout left me with 4 extra blocks, so I decided use them to turn it into a quillow. You can see in the photo of the back of the quilt the 4 squares that I used for the pocket. The pocket should have been sewn on the other way, so that it would blend into the back of the quilt and when turned into a pillow you would see the pattern like the front of the quilt...but I wasn't thinking when I sewed it on and once it was on I decided against unsewing (as I do most of the time). This is a pretty small quilt, but it's the perfect size for a quillow for Audrey- and she loves it!

Before & After

2008-10-05T00:38:00.002-08:00

Students Creations

2008-10-02T19:40:00.009-08:00

I want to show off the quilts that were made at our class in Valdez- they are all made using the same technique and yet all manage to look so completely different!

Corinn made a 9 square quilt (3 cuts) with soft green, yellow & pink floral prints
Dorothy made 9 square quilt (4 cuts) with bright kids prints

Sheila made a 20 square quilt (6 cuts) with fabric she salvaged from suits she bought at the second hand store and incorporated some lace & ribbon as well.

Jane made a 9 square quilt (3 cuts) with black & white prints and used red thread for quilting and red fabric for her front sashing. She found a great large print that incorporated all those colors for her backing fabric and used black sashing on the backside.

Mickey made a 9 square quilt (4 cuts) using batiks.

Somehow I didn't get pictures of 2 peoples projects-Rose made a 16 square quilt (I think 5 cuts but I'm not positive) using autumn colors, and Jeannie made a 12 square quilt (again, I think 5 cuts but I wouldn't bet the farm on it) using all flannels- a quilt that might even keep me warm!

Delayed Reaction

2008-09-19T01:17:00.008-08:00

Okay, it's been a few weeks since we came back from Valdez but in my defense my computer has been on the fritz and I have been otherwise occupied in my kitchen (making blueberry jam, blueberry sorbet, blueberry tart, 5 apple pies and peach jam). Soooo... here are a few photos from our trip:

the Calico Whale is the local quilt shop in Valdez (I forgot to take photos on the interior)

and this was a sign we passed in Glennallen which required an abrupt U turn and some investigation. Turned out to be a cute seasonal quilt shop- it's small but the prices were right!! The photo below shows their entire fabric collection (priced from $4-$7 per yard from what I could see) and they had a separate classroom area as well.

This guy cracked us up- his plane was parked in one of the roadside pullouts in the middle of nowhere with a tent set up beneath one of the wings. We were nowhere near an airstrip (as far as I know)- he must have landed on the highway, taxied to the rest stop and set up camp. How strange! You can view the rest of my Valdez photos on my Flickr account if you're interested.

Valdez

2008-08-31T21:44:00.003-08:00

Where did August go?? My mother and I are teaching at a quilting festival in Valdez September 11-14. That's only 2 weeks away! I'm getting nervous. When I used to teach this class there was a lot of prep work, but now everything is right in the book. I keep thinking "I have to do a million things to get ready!" but really I don't- the instructions are in the book, the sample quilts are done. This is the first time trying to teach it as a condensed class though- 14 hours over 2 days (and we are hoping the classroom is free in the evening so I can work late with the night owls & my mom has volunteered to wake up and work with the early birds) I really hope that the ladies can go home with finished quilts.

Birthday Presents

2008-08-19T19:31:00.005-08:00

Audrey's birthday is coming up soon and I happened to stumble upon this website: Born In September It's a charity organization that builds wells in Ethiopia and they're taking donations in the name of people with birthdays in September. I think it sounds like a great alternative to excessive amounts of gifts that are usually forgotten about the next week. So if you were thinking of buying a birthday present for Audrey or you are just interested in helping a charity that provides clean drinking water for people that didn't have any visit Audrey's page and make a donation in her name.

Testing Organic Fabric & Thread

2008-08-05T19:56:00.004-08:00

I ordered this blue fabric to use on the back of a project I'm working on. It's organic cotton sateen by Harmony Art and I was a little nervous about how it would hold up to my decorative stitching. I am used to the sateen fabric that they usually have in quilt shops- super fine (practically see through) and very silky, so I was worried that the fabric might shred and I thought the satin stitches would be entirely out of the question. How wrong I was! The fabric is much thicker than the sateens I've seen before (the thread count on this stuff is 233, I believe the thread count on quilting fabrics is usually 120-160) and it worked so nicely with my decorative stitches that I even tried my satin stitches and the fabric held up beautifully! I also tried the organic thread on this project- it's the white stitching going through the middle of the square. It stitched up very nicely and I didn't have any breaking or shredding so I'm pretty much in love with it. But I will say that it is a fuzzy thread (I'm talking even fuzzier than the coats & clark star thread that comes on that cardboard like spool). I haven't checked my machine yet but I'm sure I will need to clean it out more often when I'm using this thread. It's also a bit thicker than I expected (my best guess is somewhere in the 20-30wt. range) but I've never let that stop me from using a thread =)

Organic Thread

2008-08-02T21:04:00.002-08:00

I just received the organic cotton thread I ordered, and right in time for a project I'm working on. It's made in a collaboration between YLI and Fiberactive Organics. I ordered the 40 TEX on the 3000 yard cone- 3 spools of white, 3 of natural and 3 of black. They also make a TEX 60 which is supposed to be more like the heavy jeans stitch thread- sounds great for regular quilting, but too thick for my decorative stitches. I'll post again in a couple of days and let you know how it stitches.

Layout Options

2008-07-24T20:31:00.005-08:00

Here's another quilt that has finally made it to the layout selection phase. I loved hearing everyone else's thoughts on the last quilt so I thought I would do it again. There are 40 squares total so layouts 3 & 4 leave me with 4 extra squares (which would probably be used to make a pillow)

Option #1

Option #2

Option #3

Option#4

and the winner is...

2008-07-16T00:43:00.005-08:00

Option #2
Front:

Back:

Video Test

2008-07-09T17:19:00.002-08:00

This is a test...my first attempt to put video on my blog. Ryan is filming me playing airplane with Audrey and Audrey counting to 10 -we didn't even know she could do that!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

2008-07-07T16:57:00.006-08:00

Trying to decide on a layout for a quilt I am working on:
Option #1

Option #2

Option #3

Option #4

leave a comment and let me know which one is your favorite.

Happy Birthday Everett

2008-07-07T14:37:00.004-08:00

Another quick birthday gift- a toddler blanket for my friend's son Everett who turned 2 in June. It's just 3/4 of a yard of a funky Alexander Henry print that I found. I layered it with a super thick polyester batting which makes it feel more like a comforter than a quilt and used a soft corduroy for the back and binding.

Jen Sandoval

2008-07-05T11:11:00.002-08:00

I just found out my cousin Jen Sandoval is blogging while she travels around Central America. She has lots of photos up already and is posting new stuff very frequently- just wanted to let everyone know about her blog because I am so proud of her!

Quilters Dream Green

2008-06-30T16:01:00.005-08:00

My new batting arrived this week (I ordered it in May when I was at Quilt Market in Portland) It's made by Quilters Dream Batting and it's called Dream Green. It's a polyester batting made 100% from recycled plastic bottles and can be quilted up to 12" apart. I'm not sure what project I'm going to use it in but I can't wait to get started!

Quillow

2008-06-25T22:56:00.006-08:00

I needed a birthday gift for my cousin-in-law Camille so I made a quillow on Monday. If you are not familiar with this term it is a quilt (and I use this term loosely) that folds up into a pillow. I absolutely love these things- I have 3 of them on my couch that I curl up with in the evenings, but I had never made one before- the ones that I have were all gifts. Now I know that there is a pattern for these suckers floating around somewhere-I've seen it once- but any quilter can look at them and know how to make it without the pattern. I'm not talking about anything fancy- the front is solid cotton (no piecing) 2.5 yards long and the width of the fabric determines the width of your blanket, so somewhere between 40 and 45 inches wide. The back is polar fleece with a pocket of the front material sewn on it- this is what the blanket folds into to make its' own pillow, but when the blanket is open it's the perfect size to shove your feet in so your toes don't stick out of the blanket. There is no batting in the main body of the blanket and the back and front are sewn together pillowcase style and turned inside out so you don't even have to put a binding on it. There is a square of batting in the pocket on the back, but the pocket was made in the same pillowcase style. I quilted a few horizontal lines across the blanket because the polar fleece sagged so bad but you don't even have to do that- 1 of the quillows that I have doesn't have any quilting at all and another is just tied every so often and they have held up very well (they are now about 10 years old and have seen heavy use and the hot cycle of my washer many times.) It was nice to have a project completed from beginning to end in one day, but I've decided that I hate polar fleece and I hope to never work with it again, so for my next quillow I'm thinking something pieced with batting in the middle and a real binding around the edge.

I know, I know... another picture with crappy lighting- to give you an idea of what this really looks like the polar fleece on the back is sort of a sagey olivey green and the fabric in the front is a Hoffman batik from over 5 years ago- the print is of grapes and the colors are a mottled brown and green with a splash of gold and purple every once and while.

Composting

2008-06-02T12:28:00.005-08:00

I just finished reading "Composting" by Liz Ball and "The Urban/Suburban Composter" by Mark Cullen and Lorraine Johnson and was itching to start my own compost pile, so Ryan built me a holding unit yesterday out of 4 old pallets that had recently been delivered to his store. The back and two sides are held together with screws and a couple scraps of wood and the front panel is loosely held in place with a few zip ties so that it can open for easy turning. I am very excited about the whole process and I can't wait to see how much this reduces our weekly trash output. A few interesting things I learned from the books- you can put dryer lint and the contents of your vacuum bag in the compost, also natural materials- so that old clothing that is too stained or damaged to give to the Salvation Army or any little bits and scraps of 100% cotton quilting materials can now be composted instead of tossed- just make sure to cut it up into little bits first (I think they recommended 1" squares) so that it doesn't take forever to decompose.

More Seams like Home

2008-05-28T23:16:00.017-08:00

Here are the rest of those photos I was telling you about-

The window displays in the mall hallway:

the view of the shop through the front windows:

the view when you walk in the front door (straight ahead):

when you walk in the door the view to the right:

some closer pics of the wall to the right

the notion wall (to your left when you walk in the door):

and if you walk to the back of the shop and turn left you'll see the patterns, books, buttons, zippers & trims:

and I had take some photos of a few of the antiques they incorporated into their displays (a Seams Like Home signature):

The back rooms were not available for photos on Monday but I did get a sneak peek the other day and they have a very large separate room for classes and another room where they are going to put the longarm quilting machine.

P.S. My mother and I will be at Seams Like Home on June 21 for a book signing and demo so come by and say hi, and if you know any quilters that haven't heard of our book send them our way so we can show them how easy our method is =)

Seams Like Home

2008-05-27T22:57:00.009-08:00

Yesterday morning I stopped by Seams Like Home's new location in the University Center Mall. This was the first day the store was open at their new spot, but the official grand opening is sometime in June (I forget which day). The new location combines all of the quilting fabric and supplies from Seams Like Home with all of the fancier silks, velvets and clothing fabric & supplies from Three Sisters into space that is about 10,000 sq. ft. I took plenty of pictures so you can have a mini virtual tour:

Of course I'm starting you with their display of our book with the Crazy Shortcake quilt that my mom made and all the fabrics she used in it

next up I'm excited to tell you is a display of fabric by Michael Miller that is made from organic cotton (This is right up by the front counter)
...
Okay I have several more photos of the shop to put up, but blogger won't let me right now so you will have to wait till tomorrow for the rest...

We're Back

2008-05-25T17:41:00.007-08:00

We made it back from our vacation Tuesday evening and are very glad to be home. We had a great time in Montana (even though it snowed a few times while we were there)
we explored the Lewis & Clark Caverns,

we even made it down to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

And we wrapped the whole trip up by attending Quilt Market in Portland.

Road Trip

2008-05-06T00:15:00.003-08:00

We are headed on a family vacation. The plan: visit Ryan's grandparents in Montana (who haven't met Audrey yet!) and attend Quilt Market in Portland OR to promote the book. So Tuesday we fly down to Portland and pick up the rental car and drive to The Dalles and spend the night. Wednesday we drive to Sheridan MT where his grandparents live and stay for 6 nights. Then we drive to Boise and spend the night and the next day finish the drive back to Portland and stay for 6 nights. We are very excited about the whole trip and will update and add pictures when possible- Ryan's grandparents don't have a computer so we will be at the mercy of internet cafes I guess. In the meantime if you miss us check out flickr - I've uploaded over 2,000 photos in the past week!

Class Finale

2008-04-30T23:39:00.006-08:00

Monday was the last day of class and the ladies were working of their sashing. I almost forgot to take pictures again this week- luckily I snapped a photo of one of Kris' blocks just before she left and I got a shot of some of Jennifer's blocks when they were layed out on the floor. The picture only shows 12 of her squares but she actually has 20. They were both using the pattern for Beautiful Batik but as you can see it's the fabric selection that makes the quilt - Jennifer ended up with a gorgeous bold quilt for her daughter, and Kris ended up with a sweet and soft baby quilt.

Turning Green

2008-04-16T23:02:00.002-08:00

I've been slowly going green since my daughter was born. It started when she began eating food- only buying organic baby food and recycling all those little glass baby food jars (obviously I could have been a lot greener by making my own baby food from locally grown produce, but like I said I'm S-L-O-W-L-Y going green =P ) I thought that I've been doing pretty good- almost everything we buy is organic, I started buying local produce in the summer (this is Alaska, there is a very small window when this stuff is available!), we recycle everything that is accepted in town, we keep the heat at 65...okay on the coldest winter days I think we went up to 67, but for the most part it's 65 and off in the summer (and no A.C. is required up here), we have a new 95% AFUE furnace and energy star water heater, dishwasher, clothes washer & dryer, I've even modified my driving habits to try and get better gas mileage- all in all I felt I've made quite a few improvements- and then I took the Ecological Footprint Quiz and realized how much farther I need to go. I got a score of 190.22- which means if everyone in the world lived my lifestyle we would need 4.9 earths to provide all of the resources consumed. This is better than the national average (which is sad) but a LOT of room for improvement! My biggest downfall on the quiz is that I usually have meat or dairy with every meal. So even though it's kinda late in the year for resolutions here are a few things I plan to improve on: try to eat less meat and dairy, grow some of my own vegetables and berries, ride my bike to the grocery store instead of drive, take the bus more often, install more water saving fixtures, start composting and attempt to dry some clothes outdoors on nice days. I'll take the test again this fall and let you know if I've made much improvement- I'd love to hear your scores and suggestions for improvement.

Victims' Rights Week

2008-04-16T01:57:00.010-08:00

Monday was the Annual Tree Ceremony on the Park Strip down town- part of the National Crime Victims' Rights Week. The ceremony involves people tying ribbons on a tree to represent themselves or others who are victims of violent crimes. There are different colored ribbons to represent different crimes: red for drunk driving, green for robbery, mint green for child abuse, white for hate crimes, orange for assault, teal for sexual assault, purple for domestic violence, yellow for kidnapping and hostage, black for homicide, red white & blue for crimes against those who serve in uniform. I try to go every year and tie ribbons in remembrance of my cousins. I took a couple photos while I was down there this year

This event is put together by Victims for Justice a nonprofit organization that helps victims of violent crimes and the survivors of victims of homocide.

April Class Part 1

2008-04-15T23:59:00.004-08:00

Monday night was the first session of my class out in Eagle River. It was just me and 1 student- I had 1 no-show and 1 student is in Hawaii and will join us next week. My student (Ms. Kris Miller) decided on the "Beautiful Batik" pattern which has 5 cuts. She is making 12 squares which makes a nice lap size and is using flannel fabric from the line "Baby Talk". I took a couple of work in progress photos to share:

I found out Kris has her own quilting business-she has a nolting long-arm machine that you can rent (after taking a class on set-up) and quilt your own quilts using her machine- no more trying to wrestle your quilt through your home machine. I may have to try this out in the future- of course only on those that aren't quilt-as-you-go ;)
I'll give you another update after next Monday when we work on the decorative stitching.

Bye Bye Snowman

2008-04-15T23:48:00.001-08:00

I thought this meant winter was done. and then it snowed again this evening.

Snow in April

2008-04-10T20:31:00.005-08:00

Breakup was going pretty well, our grass was even turning green, and then it snowed Saturday night. It dumped several inches overnight. When we woke up Sunday morning the sun was shining, it was a beautiful day and everything was covered in a layer of bright white snow- so we made a snowman.

A little celebration of winters last hurrah (I hope!)

The Sugar Spoon

2008-04-09T09:48:00.006-08:00

I went to the Sugar Spoon on Sunday for the first meeting of a book club that my mother-in-law started (We are reading "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver). The Sugar Spoon is a cute new little shop in Spenard that only serves desserts and coffee. The desserts we ordered were so pretty I had to take some pictures:

I think the pictures speak for themselves- you should definitely check out the Sugar Spoon if you are having a sweets craving.

The Beach

2008-03-29T00:22:00.010-08:00

After the pool on Friday we drove down to Seward so Audrey could spend a long weekend with her Grandma. The sun was shining and the drive was gorgeous (of course I forgot my camera and my sunglasses at home). After watching all that beautiful scenery I was dying to get outside for a while, so once I got back to town I stopped by my house to pick up my camera and galoshes and headed for Kincaid park.

The trail was still frozen, but I headed down to the beach anyway. Saw a little munching moose about 100 ft. off the trail.

She was was not concerned with anything but what she was eating and didn't have any friends with her so I continued towards the beach.
The view was gorgeous,

the beach was deserted,

and the melting ice chunks on the beach made it sound like I was inside a can of soda.

Not a bad way to spend an evening, in my opinion =)

H2Oasis

2008-03-29T00:08:00.005-08:00

Audrey and I met up with our friends Laura, Rachel and Brian at H2Oasis (the indoor water park) this morning for a little fun in the pool. Much to my surprise Audrey loved the kids water slide- I think she would have stayed there all day if she had the option.

Another One Bites The Dust

2008-03-25T18:42:00.001-08:00

Thanks to my friend Laura and her extra sewing machine I was able to finish my dad's quilt! Laura and I have been having all day sewathons for the past few Mondays and yesterday I finished quilting the outer border and put the binding on my dad's quilt. One UFO down and about a million to go- but you gotta start somewhere right?

The Camcorder That Ate Easter

2008-03-25T18:24:00.000-08:00

I was going to upload a cute video of Audrey searching for Easter eggs, however it has somehow disappeared from the camcorder- along with the video of her driving a power wheels VW Bug. I really hate my camcorder right now. I am still holding on to the hope that the videos will magically reappear somehow. Cross your fingers for me.

My Dad's Quilt

2008-03-20T23:54:00.001-08:00

This is a quilt I started for my dad's 50th birthday (he will be 52 this June). It is a very simple top from a pattern by Dina Pappas using her fuse fold & stitch method. The main blocks are screen printed silhouettes of loons on a lake with smaller blocks used as cornerstones between the sashing and the rest is all batiks. The top went together in a couple of hours- the main hold up has been the quilting. I've quilted wall hangings before but the only bed size quilts that I've done were quilt-as-you-go like in Crazy Shortcut Quilts. Sooooo.....I've been putting it off...but I finally bit the bullet last week and I'm fairly happy with the results. I stitched in the thin black outline in the large silhouette blocks and 1/4 inch inside the sashing rectangles. In the inner border I did sort of off-kilter squares that turned out really well (as long as you don't inspect my stitches per inch =P ). The outer border has been more troublesome. My plan was to stitch up the center vein of each leaf printed on the outer border but I'm not sure I like how that is turning out. Meanwhile my sewing machine started skipping stitches (I messed up the timing on my machine the other day while doing some decorative stitches-my needle fell out mid stitch) so I'll have some time to contemplate what to do about my border while my machine is in the shop.

The Other Quilt on my Bed

2008-03-13T23:18:00.001-08:00

This sampler was a graduation gift from my co-workers at a quilt shop I used to work at. The main fabric that everyone used in their blocks has 2000 printed all over it (the year I graduated high school) and some of the blocks used gold & green- my school colors. The quilting was done by my mom- feathers in the outer border, hearts in the inner border and writing (a dedication) in the sashing between the blocks.

My Couch Quilt

2008-03-11T23:33:00.001-08:00

This is a quilt I made for myself a couple of years ago. I picked out the colors so it would go with my couch but I sleep with it on my bed every night (along with one other quilt, two comforters and four other blankets- I'm very cold at night...OK...I'm cold all the time). It is a quilt-as-you-go just like the ones in my book but I did the cutting a little differently. Instead of doing one cut at a time I made all of my cuts at once- as you can see some of the cuts don't go all the way across the block.

Here is a cutting diagram for the first six cuts- there are actually 10 cuts per block, but I ran out of room in paint when I was creating this diagram- but you get the idea anyway. It's much more of a pain in the butt in my opinion than the way we do it in the book, but it looks closer to a crazy quilt to me.

Fun With Bath Time

2008-03-10T23:46:00.000-08:00

Audrey loves to rub things in her hair. This is somewhat aggravating at dinner time or when I'm trying to put lotion on her, but quite convenient at bath time =)

Animal Dreams

2008-03-07T12:33:00.000-09:00

I finished reading the book "Animal Dreams" by Barbara Kingsolver earlier this week. This is the fourth book of hers that I've read ("The Poisonwood Bible", "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and "The Bean Trees" are the others) and I've decided I'm just going to have to buy every book she's written. I love how she incorporates environmental and and social issues into her fiction, and her nonfiction that I've read has completely changed how I think about and buy food. In "Animal Dreams" she talks about water rights and the effects of mining on nearby water supplies. I found this especially interesting because in high school I took a field trip with the geology club to a coal mine in Alaska and it never even occurred to me to think about the impacts that this mine has on water supplies or the surrounding wild life. My only thought was "Wow, look at all this cool machinery they get to use". Ms. Kingsolver's books definitely open my eyes to issues that I was oblivious to before, and if you have a chance you should definitely read one of her books.

Hydrangeas

2008-03-02T22:32:00.000-09:00

This is one of my favorite quilts that I've made- it's from a pattern by Bella Nonna using these little fabric flower petals that they sell. You just attach them to your quilt using steam-a-seam or fabric glue. It's so simple and the quilts turn out so beautiful. In the close up photo you can see the amazing job my mom did free motion quilting it for me.

Charity Quilt Auction

2008-03-01T16:02:00.000-09:00

Today Audrey and I met my dad and my friends Laura & Brad for breakfast at Snow City cafe downtown (Ryan and I agree- they have the best hash browns in Anchorage). After that we headed to the charity quilt auction for Catholic Social Services to see a quilt that my mom donated and all the other lovely creations that people donated. We also saw a beautiful quilt by my friend Ms. Kathy Harte that Laura was especially taken with. Of course while we were downtown we had to stop by my favorite place: Virtu

Above left: Quilt by Kathy Harte , Above right: Quilt by my mom, Left: My dad, Audrey and Laura- all bundled up for the walk downtown

The Presidents

2008-02-29T20:33:00.000-09:00

I am not one to frequent bars but Ryan and I had a great time at Koots last night. We were there for a concert by The Presidents of the United States of America- this was the 4th time for me 3rd for Ryan. You may remember their hits from the mid nineties "Peaches" "Kitty" and "Lump", anyways they are a lot of fun in concert. At one point the singer ordered and passed out 50 beers to the people in the crowd, and later he dedicated the song "Love Everybody" to Ryan and me. He remembered us from one of their previous concerts we attended-September 18, 2003 to be exact =) Their show happened to be scheduled on our wedding day so after the reception Ryan and I and most of our wedding party went to the show in our wedding attire. They pulled us up on stage to sing "Kitty" with them and signed my wedding dress (which I plan to cut up and put into a quilt someday). So last night they asked if the people who had come in their wedding clothes before were here tonight, and were we still together, and did we have any kids, and then dedicated "Love Everybody" to us- it certainly made our day!