Wednesday, September 28, 2011

To Market, To Market... jiggety-jig......

Getting ready for quilt market.  I'm not actually going.  Oh how I wish I were but my friends at Pattern Peddlers will be going for me.  I'm packing items up for them.  The posters are made, give-away goodies packed, fliers printed.... so  if you're going, I'm incredibly envious take time to stop by and visit Penel and everyone at booths 212 and  214, say 'hi' for me.  Marvel at the wonderful items they have to offer, order some new patterns for your quilt shop.  Pattern Peddlers represents a ton of talented quilt designers, one stop shopping for your quilt shop!

International Quilt Market/Houston*
October 29-31, 2011
George R. Brown Convention Center
Sat., Oct. 29 - 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
Sun., Oct. 30 - 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
Mon., Oct. 31 - 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

I'm sending these two NEW patterns!  I'm very excited about them...

Happy quilting!!!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Santa came early!

I felt like a little kid when I was greeted by the UPS man.  In my eyes he was wearing a Santa suit and bringing me my entire wish list!  I received a beautiful box of goodies from Hoffman Fabrics to design with.  I'm so thrilled to have the opportunity to design with these fabrics.  You should have seen me dance around the kitchen as I opened the package.  Who knew a UPS box was just as pretty as a foil wrapped Christmas present! 

Can't wait until I can start working with them.  I have some fantastic table runner and quilt patterns ready to test that will be released this spring.

Thank you Hoffman Fabrics for the lovely color palette. 

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Santa Mug Rug, Bon Jovi & Civil War Saturday

It was a wonderful night of sewing.  I gave the family Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner and then hid myself away in my sewing room. I plugged myself into my Zune, and cranked Bon Jovi for the evening. I'm not sure if my family heard me singing away to 'It's my life...' but I can't sing to save my life so if they heard me they were kind enough not to comment...or laugh.  Last night was FNSI and I worked on a Santa Mug Rug.  I've had the pattern drawn out for months now.  I've taken it to my last two quilt retreats in hopes that I would get my sample made.  Well, it's done and ohhh soooo cute!  Not only can you use it as a cute addition to your desk at work, it would also make a cute candle mat for a jar candle.  Cute for the holidays.... A fun gift to give your quilting friends!  Well the pattern is available in my Etsy Shop.  It's quick and easy to make and can be easily done in an afternoon.  I stayed up late to put together the pattern just for you!  I'm hoping to also post mini kits later today.


Also during my evening of uninterrupted sewing time, I got another block done on my Civil War Diary Quilt.  The block is called 'Church'.  It is a classic pattern that went together easily.  So here's how I did it....

As always, I choose fabrics similar to the picture in Rosemary's book.

I printed up the foundation paper from the companion CD that works with EQ.  And I decided to rotary cut the pieces to the block and sew them together traditionally using a scant 1/4" seam.

First with your cream fabric cut 2   2 1/2" squares

Then cut the squares corner to corner to form 4 triangles


Then cut 1    2  5/8" square out of the gold fabric, this is your center square

Cut 4    2" squares, these are your corner squares.

Cut 4   3  1/2" x 2" rectangles out of the navy blue fabric.
I have the block laid out on my cutting board all ready to sew.  I started with the center gold square framed with the cream triangles.

Here I am sewing the cream triangles onto the square.... all four sides....

The center is done... remember to square it up to measure a 3 1/2" square centering the gold square.

Here I am adding the 'outer' border sections.

"Church"
January 27th 1861


Remember to post your progress on the Civil War Diary Quilt Group on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1547598@N25/

Next week I will be working on 'Sewing' from the Civil War Dairy Quilt Book.  Have a wonderful week and hope that you can join me next week as I continue on my Civil War Diary Quilt journey.

Happy quilting!


The Civil War Diary Quilt Book can be bought through paypal or through the mail from Rosemary Youngs...
The Civil War Diary Quilt book is available for $22.99 plus $4.95 priority mail, (global priority mail $11.95) . You can order the CD with the book, you will need  Electric Quilt 5 or 6 to run the CD, the CD alone is $10 and there is no extra charge for postage when you order the book with the CD, total cost for the CD with the book will be $32.99 plus your postage.
Send a check or money order to Rosemary Youngs, 3704 Nicole Ct., Walker, MI 49534

Thursday, September 15, 2011

What to do....


Maybe I can work on this!

Yeah!  Tomorrow is FNSI and I am so looking forward to some sewing time!  Hope that my family cooperates and I'm not too exhausted from work that I'm able to stay awake and have some project time!  Tomorrow is the school wide walk-a-thon and I get to walk with all my little sweeties tomorrow afternoon and help Carmie keep them all together.  Best part of my day is spending time with the Kindergartners so that their teacher gets some prep time.  Tomorrow is a busy Friday and I'm hoping to have a burst of energy tomorrow when I get home for FNSI.  Gosh, I sure have things I can work on.  It's almost Civil War Saturday and I'm so close to having another row done!  Almost time for another give-away!  I have quilts to quilt, patterns to work out and write.... so much to do..... I'd better stop by the store on the way home from work and pick up some chocolate and Diet Mountain Dew.  That should help keep me awake at least for a little while.

Happy quilting everyone!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Beginning of War 1861

 April 16, 1861
"Raining hard this morning.  Richard came down for the mail. Got news that the war has commenced at Charleston on last Friday. Could enough to snow tonight."

Hannah Walton Sanders

Diary entry from The Civil War Diary Quilt by Rosemary Youngs

This weekend the Nation is remembering 9-11.  The beginning of a 'new' war.  My son Thomas was in first grade when 9-11 happened and has no real recollection of the day, only what he's seen over the years on the TV.  I remember standing in the kitchen having my coffee and watching the morning news.  It was a beautiful fall morning.  I was mortified as I watched what followed, wondering if I should pick my kids up from school.  I remember calling my dad who was home to see if he's heard about what was happening in NY.  I remember visiting NYC on a class field trip as a child and seeing the Twin Towers. Today,  I've been bouncing back a forth watching the special coverage of the speeches etc and canning tomatoes.  Life goes on but we must never forget.

Let me show you how I completed the next block, 'Beginning of War'....
If you need a refresher on how to do paper piecing, here's a great video I found on You Tube;


Here are my fabrics that I choose to do the block in.  Very similar to the book.

The block is broken down into 4 sections.  I wrote the colors in each section.

Here the middle strip is done.  It is made up of two sections.  I couldn't wait to see the block finished!  I love the color combination.

Here the block is all done.  It's one of my favorites.  I'm two blocks away from having my third row done.  How exciting!

Remember to post your progress on the Civil War Diary Quilt Group on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1547598@N25/

Next week I will be working on 'Church' from the Civil War Dairy Quilt Book.  Have a wonderful week and hope that you can join me next week as I continue on my Civil War Diary Quilt journey.

Happy quilting!


The Civil War Diary Quilt Book can be bought through paypal or through the mail from Rosemary Youngs...
The Civil War Diary Quilt book is available for $22.99 plus $4.95 priority mail, (global priority mail $11.95) . You can order the CD with the book, you will need  Electric Quilt 5 or 6 to run the CD, the CD alone is $10 and there is no extra charge for postage when you order the book with the CD, total cost for the CD with the book will be $32.99 plus your postage.
Send a check or money order to Rosemary Youngs, 3704 Nicole Ct., Walker, MI 49534

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Troops Arriving

June 5, 1861
"A beautiful day. Planted sunflowers seed in the Island.  Planted tomatoes, also wrote to Kitty. Heard that a great many of Lincoln's troops coming up the Kanhaway to get possession of the road. I do not believe it. Lizzie Jackson home until after supper."   
Diary entry from Hannah Walton Sanders 


Today I worked on the block titled 'Troops Arriving' from the Civil War Diary Quilt book by Rosemary Youngs.  This was a fun and easy block to construct.  I'm really pleased with the results.

I chose fabrics similar to that shown in the book.

The block is broken down into three sections for paper piecing.  It would be very easy to hand-draft this block if you do not have the companion CD and EQ.  To hand draft the block, trace the block onto foundation paper using a ruler and pencil.  I like to use a mechanical pencil with a thin lead for this. Remember to add a 1/4" seam around each section.  I also like to write the fabric colors in each section of the block.

When sewing remember to use a very small stitch.  Here I am stitching on the lines....

The block is complete!  30 blocks done....91 block to go!

Remember to post your progress on the Civil War Diary Quilt Group on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1547598@N25/

Next week I will be working on 'Beginning of War' from the Civil War Dairy Quilt Book.  It's hard to believe that school starts next week and we will be back to our school routines.  The leaves are just starting to change and the days are slowing getting shorter.  Have a wonderful week and hope that you can join me next week as I continue on my Civil War Diary Quilt journey.

Happy quilting!


The Civil War Diary Quilt Book can be bought through paypal or through the mail from Rosemary Youngs...
The Civil War Diary Quilt book is available for $22.99 plus $4.95 priority mail, (global priority mail $11.95) . You can order the CD with the book, you will need  Electric Quilt 5 or 6 to run the CD, the CD alone is $10 and there is no extra charge for postage when you order the book with the CD, total cost for the CD with the book will be $32.99 plus your postage.
Send a check or money order to Rosemary Youngs, 3704 Nicole Ct., Walker, MI 49534