our weekend

My family and I had the privilege of spending the weekend in Michigan. Part of it was family vacation, part of it was so I could take part in the summer work party for Margaret's Hope Chest. I got to take in a bit of the quilt show in Grand Rapids, too, which caused me to wonder why on earth I call myself a quilter. Some of those quilts were utterly AmAzInG! They were really fun to see, even if they made me question my abilities. :)

The work party was fabulous! I'm so happy I got to be a part of it!

Here's Carin sharing a story about this beautiful quilt that she reconstructed.

 Jill and Jessica showing off finished quilts. (These ladies sewed FAST!)

More finished quilts....I'm not sure who finished this one...sorry!

I believe that Carol finished this one. That little square turned on point made me smile!

Stephanie's completed quilt. I love her layout!

Evidence of a day well spent. :) I think we finished between 10-15 quilts in about 6 hours! It was fun to meet some new friends and work together for such a worthy cause. These quilts will be donated to kids in need. Thanks again to all who donated blocks and for those to came to help sew up the quilts! It's neat to see what we can do when we work together!

As for the rest of our vacation...
It was so nice to see the beach again. The lake was absolutely gorgeous.

This was at Tunnel Park in Holland...

And in South Haven.

 It was sooo good to go back to visit.

We had some wonderful family time and great weather....

and we enjoyed the beautiful views. We had the chance to spend some time with friends, too, which was wonderful!

Overall it was a great trip...lots of great memories made. (This photo was my husband's idea...and I LOVE it!)

We are so thankful to be home safely! Last night when we were an hour from home we were THIS close to being smashed between a U Haul that was towing a car and a concrete barrier. It was SO scary. Oh-my-goodness!!!! Thankfully it was only a close call. We are so thankful to God for His protection of our family!

One more week of summer 'vacation' left here...I have a feeling it's going to be another CraZy week, but I'm going to try to squeeze in some sewing (and blogging!) too. Here's hoping!!!

Happy Monday to you!

my finished oatmeal quilt!

My oatmeal quilt has been finished for almost a month now. I've been procrastinating blogging about it because in order to post about it I would need decent photos of it. That still hasn't happened, but if I waited until that happened, well.....you can see where this is going. (I will save you the rant about my lack of photography skills...let's just say I have had a lot of frustration with it lately!)

Now, about this quilt....I love how it turned out!!! It's another one in my monochromatic series that I started way back when. Free piecing slabs (as found in Sunday Morning Quilts) is a great way to use many scraps of various sizes all in one quilt. I also like this technique because I like making design decisions each step of the way, watching it unfold a bit at a time, then tweaking as needed. It's my favorite way to work! 

The quilting is just several rows of "e's" or "l's all looped together. It took awhile, but the texture is great. I'd definitely quilt more quilts like this! I used the piecing as sort of a built in guide for the lines, so I managed to quilt most of it without marking. I marked just a few lines here and there to keep me on track in a few small sections. It worked really well.

The pieced back was designed around the funky 'leisure suit print' and a few odd pieces of neutrals from my stash. I love piecing a back together with what I have on hand. Again, it's kind of like a puzzle. It's also like two quilts in one. Love that!

For the binding, I made kind of an unpredictable choice, I think. I chose a print that when chopped up has bits of color here and there and it almost matches the backing fabric. :) The little bits of color add a little interest without stealing any of the attention from the rest of the quilt. I rather like it! 

The quilt measures about 62" x 78".

happenings

I had the chance to meet up with Anita of bloomin' workshop and her husband yesterday. I've been admiring her work and blogging with her for years. I met her briefly at quilt market in 2010, and it was nice to have a longer visit this time around. It was great to meet her husband, too. We had a picnic lunch at the beach, played with my kids, and had a lovely visit. It was so fun and relaxing, to boot! The weather was absolutely perfect.

I made this little mini quilt for her at the last minute. I've been wanting to make her something for her wall of quilts for over a year now. Nothing like an in person visit to get me movin'.

I did a straight set version of my up, up and away quilt. It's about 18" square.

Someday I want to make a huge version of this quilt. (No wonder my list never shrinks. Make on, add one to the list...)

This year in my garden I planted kale as an experiment. Turns out it's really easy to grow and apparently it likes the spot that I planted it in. Hurray for that! I've made kale chips a few times. They are really good, as long as they aren't too salty. I also found that parkay spray works in place of the oil, so there are fewer calories. My kids will even eat them! Today I froze some kale (using this method) to use in soup in the winter. I've also used kale in stir fry just a bit. Another great use for it. I'm so glad I tried growing it!

jump for joy

I'm back home again after speaking and teaching up at Gruber's quilt shop on Friday and Saturday. It was fantastic. I typically don't sleep much on weekends away because I have a hard time shutting my mind off. I should clarify...that issue really isn't reserved for weekends away. It's a way of life for me, but I digress. :)

Last night I remembered a story related to the book that I wanted to share. When I was in the thick of book writing and quilting (while trying to keep life at home somewhat normal) my daughter, who was 4 at the time, and I had a conversation. I don't remember the exact details, but she was probably asking me to either play with her or to do something with her. I was in the middle of a big project, so the answer was "not right now, Mom's working". And then I told her that when the book was done I was going to jump for joy. As you may know, kids have a knack for remembering obscure things. Or at least my kids do. Sometime later (I'm not sure if it was days, weeks or months) when the book was actually done she asked me if it was time to jump for joy. I recall the day (and the exact spot in the living room) where her and I literally jumped for joy. It was a sweet moment, to be sure. And one I hope I never forget.

I'm so thankful that I get to do this....speak, teach, write, QUILT, meet and make connections with so many other quilters. It's amazing. It's a ton of work, and I don't sleep nearly enough, but it's so very rewarding.

I'm so thankful that Nancy March took time out of her life 12 years ago to teach me how to quilt. What a difference she made in my life! I was delighted to dedicate the book to her....it seemed so fitting, so right. I was thrilled when I saw her come into the dinner on Friday night. It had been way too long since we had seen each other (because life gets busy, you know) and it was a such a sweet surprise, so touching.

The response that Cheryl and I have gotten (and continue to get) from the book has been fantastic. I would like to say thank you to each and every one who bought the book. Really. Thank you. Thanks to those who have supported me over the years through my blog. Thank you to those who leave kind words of encouragement via comments. Thanks to those of you who come to have dinner with me and those of you who take my classes or come to my retreats. Thanks for being a part of all of this. It means so much.

I'm jumping for joy all over again.
(even in my extremely tired stupor.)

on the edge

This is one of my 15 wips.

It was an avoidance project.

You know the type...

a project that was at the absolute bottom of the priority list,

which also means that it was the most appealing.

The idea for this quilt came while I was water color painting with my kids.

It was super easy to translate into fabric,

and fun to piece, too.

I love the colors together!

pinks, oranges and yellows from scraps and stash

aqua solid is ocean mist from connecting threads
size: 59" x 74"

a breath of fresh air

I finished my low-volume quilt last week. This is such a special one. It's so pretty and delicate without being too fussy.

It's made from scraps and stash. I used Cheryl's Sunday Morning pattern from our book Sunday Morning Quilts.

For the quilting I did a free-form loopy pattern in white thread. Nice and easy.

I think I mentioned before that I was nervous about this whole 'low-volume' approach. I like light fabrics just as much as the next gal, or maybe even more, but working with just light value fabrics intimidated me. Would all the prints work together? Would they mesh? Would it look too chaotic? These were just a few of the questions I had. Thankfully Tara had pieced her own version of this pattern a few weeks before I did. She encouraged me by saying that the quilt could be anything that I wanted it to be. Of course it could be, (right?) but I needed that friendly reminder.

The other thing I struggled with is how big to make the quilt. The blocks are 10" finished...so I finally settled on 70" x 90", which is a large twin size. I knew I was going to love the quilt, so I made it bigger than my default (lap size). My train of thought was bigger=more versatile.

It took me a few days to figure out what to do for the backing. I love the yellow print (Pinafore in butter from Connecting Threads) and considered ordering more, but then I came to my senses and realized that I certainly DO NOT need to buy any more fabric! I ended up using 3 different pieces of small calico-ish prints from my stash.

 I do love a pieced backing...

...and it felt so good to use what I had on hand.

The binding is Circa 1934 by Cosmo Cricket for Moda, which I cut on the bias. I'm pleased with how it finishes off the quilt....just the right punch of color without overpowering the quilt. It's the cherry on top!

I love, love, LOVE this quilt! I'm ready to make another low-volume quilt (or two, or three....).

I had a few questions regarding the term 'low-volume' in previous posts. Low-volume fabrics have predominately white, light or neutral backgrounds. More often than not the prints are graphic and simple. There is a low volume quilt along in progress on flickr, with a lot of eye candy to browse. There is also a link to an article that talks about low-volume more in depth, should you want to check that out.

Happy Monday to you!

gardening

The kids and I have been gardening again this summer. We have two small beds of veggies at home and we have a bigger garden at our friends' place out in the country, just like last year. It is oh-so-satisfying to grow your own veggies and then eat them for dinner the very same day. YUM! My kids are becoming good little gardeners/workers, too, which is an added bonus! They have been helping every step of the way: from planting, weeding, and harvesting, to eating.

This was one days' harvest: 25 cucumbers!, a few onions, beets, zucchini (only 2, hurray!) and several peppers.

So, what do you do with 25 cucumbers? Make pickles, of course. My sister passed this recipe on to me last year, which I've tweaked to my liking. They are so quick and easy to make. And so good, too!

Dill Refrigerator Pickles

In a 5 quart container (an ice cream bucket works well), place 4 heads of dill and 1 onion, sliced, in the bottom.
Slice (or cut into spears) enough cucumbers to fill the container. Set aside.

For the brine:
1/2 teaspoon alum
1 quart water
1 3/4 cups white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2  head garlic, slice each piece in half
1/3 cup canning salt
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1/3 cup sugar

Mix brine ingredients in a medium saucepan and heat through. Pour over cucumbers and refrigerate.
Let pickles set for 24 hours before eating.

I've heard that they will keep in the refrigerator until Christmas, but we've never had them last that long. I've got a few too many pickle fans in the house for that to happen. :)

I grew beets again this year, even though I've never been a big fan. My husband likes them, (pickled) and I've always wanted to like them (mainly because they are such a great color!) but I never acquired a taste. Just last week my other sister offered me some 'non-pickled' beets (boiled and then served with a touch of butter and salt and pepper)...and you know what? They are soooo good! My kids love them, too! As crazy as it sounds, they taste kind of like sweet corn. Now, I'm trying to figure out how I've gone 37 years without trying boiled beets?! It seems pretty crazy to me! Oh well. I guess now I know. :)

one way to make bias binding

Thanks for all the response on the binding choice! It was a very close call between A and F, but in the end I chose A, cut on the bias.

Since I was making bias binding, I thought I would snap a few photos of the process along the way and share them here. This is one way to do it. A few of the photos are a bit less than stellar-sorry!-but you should still get the idea.

First, lay your fabric square on your cutting mat. Trim the left and right sides so the fabric is squared up.

Trim off the selvages as well.

Line up a ruler (or two rulers end to end if one ruler isn't long enough) on the 45 degree angle of your cutting mat. Carefully make your first cut.

Tip: The photo doesn't show this, but in order to maximize your fabric, line up the top left corner of your fabric right on the 45 degree angle line. You will get nice 45 degree angles on the ends of your fabric and no odd bits to trim off those ends.

Move your ruler(s) and either flip up or set aside the triangle (the piece on the top right hand side), but don't discard. It will be used later. Then, line up the ruler on the line that you just cut and measure the width of your binding strips. I cut mine 2.25" wide. Make as many cuts as you can from the fabric. I tend to move my fabric several times throughout this process. I've heard that once you make a cut in your fabric you shouldn't move it from that place on your cutting mat, but I do. I guess I am a rebel that way. I just make sure that the edges are lined up accurately before each cut. Repeat these steps for the triangle that you set aside previously.

Once all your fabric is cut up, take two strips and prepare to join them end to end. The nice thing about bias binding strips is the ends are already mitered for you.

Since you are sewing on an angle, you will need to offset the binding strips just a bit. Pin. When you sew up the seam, if it is lined up correctly, you should be able to sew from notch to notch and get a perfect 1/4" seam. Flip the strip the right, and press. If the binding strip is offset at all (not in a straight line) rip the stitches and sew it again. It takes a bit of practice to get this just right, but it's not too bad, either. A few strips and you should be a pro.

Most of the strips will join together just fine, but when you have two ends that look like this, they won't miter together.

So, you have to line up your ruler as shown above. Use the 45 degree angle line on the ruler and make a cut. Set the triangle aside as a scrap or discard.

 Now the two ends should be ready to miter. Repeat as directed in the steps above.

 Once all the binding strips are joined together, fold in half lengthwise and press well.

Attach the binding as you would normally. (You can see my in depth binding tutorial here.)

When you get to the ends...your strips will probably look something like this.

 Trim one end at a 90 degree angle.

Measure an overlap that equals the binding width. In this case 2.25" wide. 

Trim.

Open up the ends of the binding strips.

On the left hand strip, fold the end and finger press as shown in the photo. This fold will be your sewing line. Mark it with a water soluble marker if desired.

Pin and sew on the line/fold.

Use a scissors to trim off the triangles, leaving a 1/4" seam allowance. Finger press the seam and line up the binding to the edge of the quilt. Sew into place.

After I attach the binding to the quilt, I like to trim off the excess backing and batting with a pinking shears. I like to leave just a bit of fabric and batting beyond the edge so the binding will be nice and full after hand stitching it down to the back.

If you have any questions about bias binding, I'll try to answer them in the comments.