September! Really??

OK, I got it, September is here and I am crazy busy!  School started up and I am teaching again -- my LAST Semester -- before I retire.  It is so time!  But I am also preparing for Quilt Market in Houston in October and getting 6 new patterns (and six new quilts) ready as well.  Yipes.

New free Block of the Month for September is posted.  Hop on over to the BOM 2014 page and download your copy now.  And if you are a subscriber, the newsletter with the bonus block went out today, so be sure you check that out as well.

September Free Block of the Month

Not a subscriber?  Want the bonus block?  Its easy to do, just fill out the subscription for on the left hand side <<<<<<<<<< over there and click submit.  I send out the newsletter on the 1st and the 15th each month, so you won't miss it if  you subscribe after the 1st.

September Bonus Block

OK, so it went out on the 8th this month and not the 1st.  I promise it was ready to go several days ago but my web maven was on vacation and I couldn't update my website till she got home so I had to sit on it a few days.  Usually I can update it myself, but it was having fits -- I mean serious fits -- after a complete update and overhaul, and I was not gonna try and screw with it and then get a scolding.  I know just enough to be dangerous.

So what are the new quilts I am bringing out at Quilt Market?  Here is a preview!
Summer Iris Picnic Quilt:

Indian Blanket: (And my quilt tester Kris Y did an AMAZING job on this quilt!)

Plus 4 more. . . . hold on, will post those later when I have more time.

Now check out this new gizmo I discovered!

Product Review The Easy Binding Winder Do you struggle with binding like I do? I recently found this great new gizmo and wanted to try it out. It winds your binding onto a cylinder, which can be lifted from the winder and removed, and then inserted back in the winder when you are ready to stitch it onto your quilt. It is called the Easy Binding Winder and my friends at Connect the Blocks.com sent me a prototype to try out. Several amazing things about this winder are worth noting. 1. The prototype was made with a 3-D printer!!! Can you believe it? That is just so cool!. 2. It really works! No bells or whistles, just simple mechanical action that does what it is supposed to do. No batteries, electricity or muscle needed. Here is how it works. Clamp the Easy Binding Winder to your ironing board and prepare your binding. As you press your binding in half roll it onto the winder using the hand crank. When you are done you can unscrew the hand crank and lift the winding cylinder out of the base for storage. I am told it will come with several extra cylinders. When you are ready to sew the binding on your quilt you can set it on your sewing table and feed the binding out as you sew. Here is a great video which shows it in action. I loved how easy it was to wind my binding. This was incredibly easy to do and convenient to place by my machine when I sewed my binding on the quilt. I had a little difficulty with getting the clamp tight on my ironing board, but I think that may be resolved when the final version comes out. I liked that it could be clamped from the front or the side of the base. The handle is easy to hold, and winds smoothly, and was easy to remove from the base with just a simple hand screw. I am really looking forward to this product coming on the market. Find out more information at www.easybindingwinder.com. And thanks to my friends Peggy and Rex at Connect the Blocks.com for loaning me a prototype to test for them. Oh and don't forget to take their survey on their website for a chance to win a free Easy Binding Winder!

Purple Flutterbye Auction Mini

After making the first butterfly quilt I had blocks left over so I made this little cutie for the guild mini auction.  For some reason I had a lot of purple butterflies left so I framed them in various shades of purple but used a blue binding to bring out the blue a bit.  I added tiny black piping around the border just to accent the black in the blocks and the sashing.  It was auctioned off today. . . will have to find out who bought it and what it sold for.  I still have 8 more butterflies left. . . yes most of them are purple!!  hehehe. . . so I will make one more mini, only this one I will keep.  You can’t see it well in this picture, but I did tiny little McTavishing inside each block, and quilted tiny little feather antennae for each butterfly.  You can see details if you click on some of the photos below.

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Working on Projects

I cleaned up my studio this weekend. . . at last. . . and finally had room to unpack several recent projects from classes and a quilt show. I wanted to finish up a few projects so I could start on another major project or two. I taught a class on making tote bags recently and finished my second class sample yesterday. It came out quite nicely, altho I used a fusible fleece for the inner lining that was a bit too stiff. Next time I will use something softer and easier to work with. I love making tote bags and have made quite a few, but admit I have given away most and only have pictures of a few. You can see pictures of some of my bags here.
Another project I am working on is this Winding Ways quilt, made from a John Flynn precut kit. I have made 2 of those now, and I just love the precision of the precut pieces. His system of marking the patches with small cuts to match centers makes stitching so easy and precise.
I am currently quilting it myself on my Bernina 153 in concentric circles and really like the look. I am struggling with how to quilt the plain borders, and have thought out any number of ideas. Any suggestions? The 6" turquoise border needs something interesting, but I am more of a piecer and designer, and am only learning to do my own machine quilting, especially on a quilt this size. So what projects have you been finishing up?