Weddings and Scrappy Log Cabin QAL Update 2

Hi Everyone!  It has been a busy beginning to 2015!

Like many of you in the US, we have had ice, bitter cold and snow, making the daily trek to work a bit of a challenge. I was fishtailing down the highway last week, thank goodness it was controllable and no accident occurred! This week has been a bit warmer, and much easier.

My youngest son got engaged at Christmas and we have been busy planning an August wedding. So much fun! I am blessed that his lovely fiance' has included me in the planning. 

They will be married in a small wedding at the beautiful Castle Farms in Charlevoix Michigan. Just a stones throw from Lake Michigan.

And my oldest son has been busy preparing for a move to Switzerland to join his beautiful new wife next week. They were married in a beautiful, private ceremony at the Grand Canyon in late November. They are so happy and isn't that what we all wish for? What a wonderful opportunity to live abroad. I am looking forward to a trip to Switzerland next year! And of course the trips they will make home to the U.S. also.

Life is good,  as parents this is what we do, we teach our children and give them wings to fly and when they leave home hopefully they will soar..... I am very blessed - mine are soaring!  

So we are now officially into week 3 of the Scrappy Log Cabin Quilt Along. How are you doing? I have seen many beautiful, scrappy blocks and quilts popping up on Instagram- IG!  If you have a chance be sure and ck out the hashtag #scrappylogcabinqal!  Kim over @Javadiva hosted last week and @Elnorac is hosting this week so be sure and check out her feed for the sweet prizes she is giving away. Winner to be drawn on 1/24/15, Saturday. I will be hosting next week 1/25/15!


Here is my next block almost ready to go, just need to finish picking out my Low Volume strips.

Many have asked me how I am making my quilt blocks - here is the low down.

My blocks are planned to be 14.5 inches unfinished. I am following the tutorial by Ashley from Film In the Fridge. If you have checked out her great quilt and tutorial, you will notice she leaves the measurements up to you. She chose to have much more white space in her quilt than I am. And by leaving the measurements up to the reader you get a very scrappy and irregular corner. You can have alot of white/low volume space or more color and wider corners.  

Many of you would like to cut prior and then chain piece. I understand that. So in an effort to assist with that I am working on a tutorial that give you two sets of measurements. One will give a regular, repeatable look. The other will give a more irregular look (this is the one I am using). I will be posting those next week when I am host for the Scrappy Log Cabin QAL. 

Happy Stitching!
Ginny 

PLEASE RESPECT MY BLOG

© 2014 GLFisher You are welcome to use any Fishcreek Studio tutorial for personal use. You are not given permission to use my pictures or my words without giving me credit and linking back to the original post. Sometimes my pictures have my family in them and they are never intended for public use. 

Happy Friday!

Hi Everyone!
I am over visiting one of my favorite blogs today. I am guest hosting over at Ellison Lane today for Jennifer's excellent Back To School Series. I am presenting a tutorial on Reusable Snack and Sandwich bags. These are quick, easy and oh so fun. You can use up some of those scraps that keep multiplying in your scrap basket!

Have you stopped by and checked out the all the great tutorials this week? It's not just for kids, most of the projects can easily be used by grown ups too! So cruise on over and say "Hey" and check it out!

Happy Stitching!
Ginny

Whirlygig Quilt Block Tutorial

As promised earlier this week I have prepared a tutorial for you!

This is for the Whirlygig block. This is an easy block and alot of fun! There is a bit of cutting but the block goes together quickly with chain piecing.

I reviewed a bit with this tutorial and I was totally inspired by SewCraftyJess and her 4x5 Bee Blocks here. I love the way she has put the whirlygig's together, and instead of using the white in between she has used another print. I did think about using my  'Lil Twister template/ruler but there is fabric waste with it so I decided to go with cutting my own templates. 

I tweeked my tutorial a bit as I had made these several years ago but in a smaller size. For this project I made my blocks to finish at 12 inches (12.5 unfinished). This means the 9 smaller individual blocks are 4in finished and 4.5 inches unfinished. 

Ready? Here we go!

As for fabric I used Kona white from a jelly roll - 2.5in strips and Kona grey. For the colors I literally pulled from my scrap bins or simply cut 2.5in strips. The pieces will be cut 2.5in by 3 inches.

First take a piece of cardboard (cereal box, cardboard from charm pac, anything fairly sturdy)

Measure a rectangle 2.5in x 3in and cut out. Next take your ruler and measure 1.25 inches in from the upper Left hand corner and mark. Now do the same from the lower right hand corner and mark. Connect your marks, and you should have a diagonal line as shown above. Cut on this line. You can change this up and make the diagonal more pronounced. It will give your blades more of a pinwheel shape - narrower at the base and wider at the tip.

Next take your template and cut your background pieces. You can cut 2 layers at one time to speed up the process. Just be sure if you are cutting your printed fabric that you cut with BOTH layers Right sides up. If you cut otherwise, as in right sides together or wrong sides together, you will get one set of blades that are backwards (yes, this happened to me- and I am a bit spatially challenged anyways, so it took me a moment to figure out what I had done when the pieces didn't come together!) I cut all nine backgrounds and put each in its own pile and then cut all of my prints and put one print on top of each background. that way you can just pick up each pile and sew otherwise the pieces can get scattered - after all there are 72 pieces to each 12 in block! Don't let that scare you off, it goes together quickly!

                                My cut pieces. You will match a print and a background piece.

 When you put them together to sew they will look off and not match up perfectly. This is the way it is supposed to be. Sew with scant 1/4 in seams and chain piece them. 

 Next open each piece and finger press seams so they alternate.  Lay out in a cross design. Piece the two top sections while nesting your seams. Next piece the two bottom sections doing the same. Again chain piece all of these sections. Finally sew the top and bottom sections together along your horizontal center seam, being sure to nest and match your center seams. If you find that you are having issues due to stretching (if cut on bias) don't be afraid to use spray starch to help with that. 
Ok now your should have one block approx 4.5in!  Repeat to make each of the other 8 blocks. Finally trim each block down to 4.5inches. I used a 4.5 in square ruler but it is not necessary, any ruler 4.5 inches or wider makes it easy to trim.

 Finally arrange all your blocks to your liking. Sew them together by rows. 
Top 3 blocks together; middle three blocks together; and finally the bottom 3 blocks being sure to match up seams. Then sew top row to the middle and bottom row to the middle being sure to match up the seams of the blades and the block seams.  And there you have it!

 I hope you enjoy making these!  I would love to hear from you and see your blocks if you use this tutorial. I think I see a project in my future using this block in a similar way as here. If you have any questions please let me know.

Ginny

Hurrincane Sandy Help-Donate Blocks

I am sure you have seen the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy. If you have never been through something like this it is hard to imagine.


And unfortunately after the massive storm has come and gone and the media coverage starts to slow down it is easy to carry on with our lives in normal fashion. But these people are still without power, gas, and the most basic of needs: a home and for some, even food. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. If you have spent anytime without power and electricity you know what it is like to be inconveinced and cold, but to loose your whole house and have your belongings spread miles away....it is hard to imagine, but many are living that right now.

In the Midwest we have tornados that do this, and ice storms that cut power.. but no, I have not experienced a Hurricane and hope that I never do.

One of our quilter friends, Jennifer from Knotted Thread is from the New Jersey area that is so devastated.

Here is the linke to her post: http://www.knotted-thread.com/2012/11/helpless.html Please take a moment to read.

She has started a quilt block drive. Just sign up to make 1, 2, 3, or however many quilt blocks you would like to make and send and she will make the quilts and hand deliver in December when she goes back home.

Here is the tutorial for the block: http://www.sosarahsews.blogspot.com/2011/12/tutorial-for-next-project.html  Easy!! And it makes a great looking quilt!

Please take a look at the Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/2153869@N22/discuss/72157631904633183/  And sign up if you can. A quilt brings such comfort and for many of those affected,  December will bring no relief from the massive losses they have experienced. They need to know that someone cares and recognizes their loss.

Thanks for stopping by,

Ginny

A Very Merry Christmas Pillow Tutorial (Pic Heavy)

Hi and Welcome to my blog! As part of the "Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop" by Beth over at Plum and June (see my earlier post) I put together this cute little holiday pillow and wrote a tutorial for it.  This is my first tutorial so please be patient. I will try to give directions as clearly as possible. I have used several pics to help clarify directions also.

It is a fun project and pretty quick to make! I hope you enjoy it and if you have any questions, please feel free to email me and I will respond. The pillow is machine pieced with hand stitching and large hand quilting and it finished at 13 1/2 inches by 18 1/2 inches, just perfect to go with the pillows on my sofa!

When I was pondering about what I wanted to make next, I knew I wanted a Christmas project (since I am notoriously behind in my sewing of hand made gifts for Christmas) that way maybe I would have a head start on the Season! A pillow-- I like pillows and find they are pretty versatile and fairly quick to make. Ok, check, it's going to be a pillow project. When thinking about what style, I thought about stars (still thinking about them) but I knew I wanted strips (a bit easier for this first time tutorial I thought) but I wanted some hand stitching also. So I looked around and used this as my inspiration. I would like to Thank Hoffman Fabrics and Linda Ambrosini for the original free design.

I chose to use Aneela Hoey's Cherry Christmas line by Moda. It is such a fun and sweet line and I love the aqua/turquoise color with the pinks and more traditional white, red and grey prints. I also used Kona white and  Kona grey.

I then decided to add some holiday handstitiching to the large blocks. I kept the bird and tried to adapt it a bit more to the little birds that Aneela has on her fabric - so cute! Next I added a bit of a wonky star, some snowflakes and a cute little house with a pine tree outside.  These were drawn free hand on white paper and then later transferred to the fabric by tracing them.

I also decided for ease of piecing and a more uniform look to combine the upper right hand corner squares into one block of  2 1/2 x 4 1/2 in just like the one below it.

DMC Pearle Cotton Floss #5 ($1.59/skein @ JoAnns)

So lets get started, here is what you will need:

-5 fat eighths of Christmas/Holiday prints or if you want scraps for back you may use 1/4 yd each

 I used: Aneela Hoey Cheery Christmas by Moda in the following prints:

 Red Presents 18534, White Birds (didn't get the number), Teal 18531,

 White Laundry 18530, Grey Birds 18532 

-2 fat eighths of solids for the hands stitched areas

 I used: Kona Grey Med 1223, and Kona White

-Backing fabric - I used yardage  (vs fat eighth's) and therefore had leftover scraps and just pieced it. 

-Cutting mat, ruler, rotary cutter, matching thread, small scissors, tapestry needle (18), thimble if you like

-3 in or 6 in embroidery hoop, Pearle Cotton Thread - #5

 I used DMC Black 310, White Blanc, Red 321, Grey Lt 415 (my pic above shows several other that coordinate  with my fabric but in the end I wanted a more cohesive color scheme and stuck with the 4 colors listed).

-Polyfill for the pillow stuffing. (Mine finished at approx 14 in x 18in which is an odd size for a pillow form.)

All seams are 1/4 inch. On the Cutting Diagram (see pic below or see original at Hoffman Fabrics link above) all dimensions are cut sizes. You may want to cut your solid backgrounds where you will be hand stitching larger so that you may hand stitch them before they are cut down and pieced. Suggestion is for 9 in x 9in for the large house block or 6 in x 6 in block for the smaller ones. This normally helps control any stretch the embroidery hoop may cause in the fabric once the top is pieced. Ooops! I did mine when pieced with a 3 in hoop and did not have a problem with stretching. But do not leave your hoop in overnight or for long lengths of time or the fabric will stretch.  

Choose the layout of your fabrics and cut per the diagram. Note I removed the seam in the upper Right hand corner and just made that piece the same size as the one below 2 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. 

Hand drawn designs:

Note: I just drew a square/rectangle/box the same size as my block and drew the design inside. I have given the measurements for the snowflake and the bird can be found in the original pattern in the correct size. The wonky star and house/tree were drawn on free hand after folding the paper to find the center, so these pics may not be to scale and are for your guidance only. Feel free to use them or design your own. 

Next you will  trace the hand drawn designs onto your chosen fabric. It is best to fold the design in half both width wise and length wise to find the center. Now do the same with your fabric and finger press the folds. Match up the centers of the design and the fabric and then trace. This ensures your design will be centered.

My high tech  lightbox ;)  Tracing my design onto my fabric. I used the light  coming in through my sliding glass door.

Traced designs ready to go. Note I cut my pieces to size and  hand stitched after pillow top was pieced.

Traced snowflakes

Handstitches: I used a Outline Stitch for the majority of my designs. There are a couple of Double French knots on the house (door knob and snow drops) and for the eye of the bird. The snowflakes on the house are a single straight stitch into the middle as are the little prongs on the large single snowflakes above. And the quilting outlining each block is done with a simple Running stitch.

Here is a great resource for stitches!! Sharon has pics showing how to do each step of the stitch and then one of the finished product

Sharon b's Dictionary of Stitches for Hand Embroidery and Needlework

http://inaminuteago.com/stitchindex.html  Main index of stitches
http://inaminuteago.com/stitchdict/stitch/outline.html
http://inaminuteago.com/stitchdict/stitch/frenchknot.html
http://inaminuteago.com/stitchdict/stitch/running.html

Ok, now to start piecing! Lay out all your pieces according to the diagram. I started with the lower center/right.  I pieced the the two top 3 in squares and then the bottom two 3 in squares. Then I joined them with the center seam. Press all seams open on the pillow top to reduce bulk. The top will have batting and then be quilted to add strength. Next add the 5 1/2 in blocks on either side of your 4 square patch.

Next sew the 2 1/2 x 8 middle pieces together. Press seam open. Now join that strip to your bottom unit.

Next piece the 3 rectangles in your top center together to form a unit. Do the same with the 3 rectangles on the upper right hand side. Now join the two units together to create one.

Next move to the far left side and join the 3 blocks. Add the 2 1/2 x 14 1/2 strip to these blocks. 

Next sew your top center/right unit to the bottom center/right unit.

Next add your left sided unit to the your pieced center/right sided unit. You now have a complete pieced pillow top!

Pieced pillow top, Decorative blocks traced on.

Next I completed my hand stittching on the large decorative blocks using a 3 in hoop.

Pieced pillow top with decorative blocks complete

After your decorative hand stitching is complete in your larger blocks, it is time to add the batting. I used Warm and White and cut it to the size of my pillow top or a bit smaller.

Add backing before handstitching outline of each block

Next it is time to baste in preparation for the quilting. I used safety pins. You may also use long basting stitches, or whatever your preferred method is.

Pin Basted

Next I used the light grey Pearle Cotton and did a running stitch approximately 1/4 inch all the way around each block. Just to outline it. I did not mark it, some stitches are not perfectly straight, some are more or less than 1/4 in away from the seam. I like it that way as it gives it a bit of character and charm. It is handmade :)

All hand stitching complete!

Close up of stitching

Now it is time to make your back. Since I used 1/4 yd pieces of fabric I had plenty left over to simply strip piece the back. You may choose to do this or use whatever method/fabric you prefer.

Pieced Pillow back

Now, almost finished! Match and square up your backing and pillow front. Trim any excess. Next pin right sides together and stitch. Be sure to leave approx a  4-6in opening so that you can stuff your pillow! I used a 12 oz bag of Poly Fill from Wal-Mart ($3-4). I wasn't sure I was going to like this as originally I had planned on using a pillow form. But I like it! Nice density, soft yet fluffy. I used the majority of the bag. Be sure and push it down into the corners to give them shape.

And finally whipstitch closed the 4-6 in opening you had for stuffing your pillow and wha-la! One Very Merry Christmas Pillow. And you have a head start on your Holiday stitching!

Completed pillow, front shot

Pieced back of pillow

I hope you have enjoyed making this pillow. I did. I can see it in different fabrics too! It would be great in solids with different designs, maybe geometric. Or maybe sweet pastels for a baby gift with baby related designs.....have fun with it!  I would love to see your completed project, email me a pic or a link to your pic! 

Thanks again!

Ginny

Please note there are many ways to do many of the steps I have described here. If you have a preferred way that is different then mine, that is great. This is for guidance only and what worked for me :)

Edited to add link up buttons! Sorry guys I either forget to do this or the labels! 

Linking up to:

                    

A Different Kind of Progress.... Balance

Happy Wednesday all!  Somewhere I have picked up a summer head cold and my ears are plugged and my lips are chapped from breathing through my mouth! Ugh! Thank goodness for cold remedy's that have day and night dosages--I did sleep throught the night last night (and part of the evening too!)  The wedding I went to this weekend was soo nice! Simple, small, and intimate, (second marriage for both after losing a spouse) and the corn hole tournament was fun, lots of teams and a good pot luck!

I am home today not because of my cold-- but because I took a vacation day because I have 40 teenagers from youth group coming tonight for some fun and watersports, tubing, skiing, and pizza.  Thank goodness for good friends that pitch in and help with this once a summer activity before school starts again! Lots of fun and laughter, many times it is the first time they have been given the opportunity to have fun on the water. Here is a pic of a beautiful sunset on the lake last night.

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It has been a quiet week for actual sewing. I did sit down and list all of my current WIP's and all the projects that are waiting in the closet to be done.......wow! As you know I recently went through a reorganization of my fabric closet, you can read about it here and here.  I was surprised how many there were, I am  shocked embarassed to say the count is up to 26!! I can't believe I am even telling you that! But I have to come clean, these are projects that I have the majority of fabric for and pattern picked out. Projects that I really want to make and have recipients in mind for!  So now that I have a "road map" I feel like I can move forward and actually make these vs. letting them sit (out of sight out of mind??) in the closet.  Structure in my case is a good thing ;)

This doesn't mean I won't be joining a QAL/SAL here and there, especially with fall and winter coming which will provide much more sewing time, and I would miss meeting everyone and the commraderie of making projects with others.... it's just that  I now know my limits as to what I can accomplish in X amount of time better and can be a bit more realistic about what I can finish. Those unfinished projects make me feel like a loser-- I don't like them! And I don't like letting my competitive nature take over and do more and end up disappointed when I don't get it finished on time.....do you ever have these feelings/thoughts?

So I guess what I am talking about is Balance... some days it is hard to find! LOL! But as long as I get back up and try again I think it is ok :)

I am still looking for a book case and shelving to add to my sewing room organization! A trip to IKEA is coming soon (the nearest is approx 1 1/2 hrs away), and hopefully will remedy this issue as CraigsList and garage sales have not turned up much.

I also have been working on my tutorial for my day on Plum and Junes "Lets Get Acquainted Blog Hop" which is Aug 23rd.  Here is a sneak peek at the fabric that I am auditioning for the project! Just love those Christmas colors!

So that pretty much wraps up my week....sorry to say no great projects to post but progress in a different way!

I hope your are having a great week sewing and otherwise.... now off to find that box of tissues, sniffle, sniffle :)