Busy Bee--living up to my name this week!

It has been a crazy week here!  We went on a mini-vacation to Ocean City, MD and had a truly wonderful time with all three kids.  They loved playing in the sand on the beach, but boy the ocean was COLD!  Bea encountered some type of crustacean thing that looked like it probably existed in the time of the dinosaurs and after screaming for five minutes turned to me very calmly and said, "Mom, I can see why you prefer the pool." 

Sad news awaited us when we got home, though.  One of our cats, Maggie, got out during one of the cat sitter's visits and she was taken in by another family for a day.  It's a long story, but after all the table food she ate and a pre-existing digestive disease she suffers from, she had to be euthanized.  It was very sad, but not unexpected since she had been ailing for months because of her disease.   We have a garden of rosebushes planted on the side of our house, each commemorating the life of a beloved pet.  Maggie's is peach, which is appropriate because her nose was peach colored, kind of unique for a cat--she was a tortie Siamese.

Then my cousin and I went on a strawberry canning bender. After last summer's prices at the farmer's market we got it into our heads that we'd go straight to the source and buy them at the Loveville Produce Auction.  I live in the heart of Amish country in Maryland, so fruits and veggies are abundant.  I have a 5 month old, so it's probably not possible to pick our own, so this was the second best option.  Strawberries retail for $4 a quart, but we bought 32 quarts for $1.90 each, and they were just picked!  It was a little nerve-wracking doing the bidding, because it's a real live auction with a guy going, "bla, bla, bla, bla..." that I didn't really understand.   Here is the before photo:

And the after:

And this picture doesn't even include the dozens of strawberry syrups we froze in one of my two (yes two) freezers in the garage!  We canned a little under 100 jars of strawberry, strawberry-rhubarb, and strawberry-pineapple jams.  We couldn't find any rhubarb at the auction, but we found a woman who knew a woman, and we drove over to her farm.  She picked it straight from the garden.  Needless to say, the jam is delicious!!!!   So, now we are totally into going to the auction again.  There still are raspberries, blackberries, peaches...

I also finished that baby quilt for my husband's coworker.  I used a decorative swirly stitch on my machine and just quilted straight down the seams.  It looks okay.  I am glad it's done so I can move on to other projects.

And, lastly, this week has been hectic because my great aunt has moved here permanently yesterday.  When her husband died two years ago I invited her to move to to Maryland to be closer.  She has no family and has never had a driver's license.  Back then I was just pregnant with my second kid, but now I've got three kids, none of whom are school age yet.  I'm a little nervous about being her only support because with a five month old, life is a little stressful already, but I know it's the right thing to do.  I just hope it goes well.  I actually have to get going to take her grocery shopping and pick up a few things she will need for her new place.

I also belong to this really cool co-op for natural and organic foods and products.  I ordered a couple of hand soaps for the bathroom, and this one, A La Maison in honeysuckle, is divine! It's like a breath of summer.  I love it!!!   

Patriotic Table Topper and New Baby Quilt

I found a great tutorial for a table topper on Moda Bake Shop.  It whipped up in no time at all, and I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.  It would be a good table topper for a rectangular entryway table or maybe on a pretty big dining room table.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, because it seems pretty darn big to me!

I also learned another lesson to either trim the darker seam allowance or press toward the dark.  You can kind of see a shadow of the darker seam allowance behind the white Moda muslin.  Oh well!  It still is very pretty.

I also am making another baby quilt for a friend's new baby.  It is her first...a girl who weighed over 8 pounds!  Luckily all of my kids weighed 7 pounds or less.  I had one friend whose son was 11 and a half pounds when he was born!!!!!

The fabric is Michael Miller and I chose 3 colors.  I think it looks alright.  I'm not sure about what kind of quilting design to use.  I am stalled at this point. 

The backing is a pretty floral swirly print.  I'll post a finished photo soon...once I figure out how to quilt it. 

Books

Who doesn't love to flip through a quilting book for inspiration?  I have tons of books on my shelf courtesy of my husband and 3 wonderful kids.  I love to just look through them anytime I have a free second.  Two weeks ago, I ran across some book reviews on another blog.  The author gave them each 5 stars, so I decided to check them out from my library.  Although none of the books I want are ever available in the tri-county area I live in, we are blessed to have access to all of Maryland's libraries, so I can always find what I want thanks to the quilter-librarians in Caroline and Wicomico Counties--thanks, ladies!!!!  Anyway, I checked the books out and are pleased to say that they are both oldies, but goodies! 

I really enjoyed the fabric shopping book.  I took some of the lesson to heart.  In the last baby quilt I made, I varied the scale and colors of the prints I used--and I used fabrics that didn't come bundled or from the same line/designer.  That was definitely outside my comfort zone, but I am pleased to say the quilt turned out to be my favorite one so far.  The author also discussed two types of fabrics I didn't know about--tone-on-tone and bridge fabrics.  I guess I knew they existed, but I didn't consciously try to include them in any of the quilts I've ever made.  So, I took the lesson to heart and while planning out a patriotic table topper I plan to make, I looked through my stash and found this great tone-on-tone blue in the second photo on the left.  I NEVER would have thought to include it, but just seeing it side by side the other fabrics, it makes total sense.  The author said a tone-on-tone or bridge fabric will give the eye a place to rest, and I can already see that just looking at the colors/patterns together.  A+ for this book!  I already put it in my Amazon shopping cart.  It is part of a 4 for 3 deal, so I still need to pick out a couple more books:)

The tone-on-tone is on the left below:

The other book by Judy Martin was helpful, too.  I never thought about cutting strips lengthwise from fabric so the fabric is less stretchy, but it makes total sense.  Next time I am piecing blocks, I will try her method.  Other than that, I found the book to be a little bossy, but I did really like the 7 secrets of sewing success.  I won't be buying this book.  None of the patterns really appealed to me.

2011 Quilty Resolutions

Back when we rang in the new year, I was pretty busy keeping a newborn alive and managing two other kids under the age of five...I didn't have much time to make any resolutions except to try to get some sleep!  When I was checking in on Sandy Hasenauer's Quilting for the Rest of Us blog about her 2011 Quilty Resolutions and how well she's done so far, I thought maybe I'd make a few of my own even if the year is almost halfway gone (how did that happen!!!!!!!!).  So, for May-December, here are my resolutions:
1.  Get more accurate matching my seams.
2.  Try making a pieced back.
3.  Bind correctly.
4.  Plan ahead to enter more categories at this year's county fair.
5.  Sew more!
6.  Improve my free motion quilting.
7.  Try new rotary cutting techniques.
8.  Use my EQ7 to make some patterns.

I've already made some progress on #3 (I took a one-on-one class a few weeks ago).  I also have done a lot more sewing (#5) by getting up about 2 hours before everyone in the morning approximately 3 times a week.  And I'm planning on doing #2 this weekend.   I got new labels in the mail yesterday from Spoonflower.  I saw these on Jaybird Quilts and I always love everything Julie Herman creates.  It took no time at all to create a label from some clipart.  I think it's pretty cute, but the print quality is kind of low.  The black doesn't really "pop" on the white of the fabric.  That, however, is probably my fault.  There is probably some way to adjust the resolution or something like that.  But I am happy with how they turned out!

The price was right...less than $20 for a yard of labels.  You can also design, upload, and order your own custom fabric designs.  I liked scrolling through all the fabrics that had been entered in their contests.  It is amazing the designs people made themselves.  And I was really impressed how quickly my order arrived.  The website message said to expect my order in 25-28 days, but it was here in less than a week! 

Do Ewe Knit?

I don't, but my sister-in-law Robin does!  She has made my daughters some beautiful and unique hats, blankets, and sweaters over the last five years.

Here's Bea in her swingset after our Easter egg hunt wearing a sweater knitted by Robin.

I haven't really reciprocated much, but when I saw this new line of fabric at Over the Rainbow, I knew I had to make her something from it. I plan to make a lap-sized quilt and possibly do some wonky blocks, which I've never done, but the fabric is silly and wonky seems to make sense.   It is a preorder and hasn't been released yet, but I read on some blogs you can get some of the newer lines of fabric on Ebay or Etsy early somehow, so I've actually bought a few things before they've been released, including these 3 fat quarters.  I happened to have some Heidi Grace Midnight Kisses yardage from Joann's that matches perfectly, and I ordered a couple half yards of Robert Kaufman Konas in red, slate, and gray to go with it too.  I hope she likes it!






I've got yards and yards of the Midnight Kisses fabric because it was only a dollar a yard on clearance.  It has a pretty silky feel.

  I'll have to make the wonky blocks pretty large because of the scale of the fabric.  If I had realized it, I would have ordered 1/2 yards instead.

Neapolitan Dream Baby Quilt Easy Tutorial

Who says a baby quilt has to be cutesy-cutesy?  The fabrics I selected for this baby quilt are sophisticated, yet the size and color combination are perfect for my baby girl Veronica. It is the perfect project for a first quilt.  The sweet trio of colors is inspired by the Neapolitan ice cream flavors of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.  I suggest choosing three distinct prints.  I chose one large scale (paisley in wine by Amy Butler), one viney print (Sanae by Moda Chrysalis) and one smaller scale print (Quatrefoils by Michael Miller).  You could also choose 3 small scale prints.

This project took about 2 ½ hours from start to finish.  It would be an easy-breezy last minute baby gift.  The finished size is 36” by 40”.

Materials:

·      ½ yard each of pink, brown, and cream fabric

·      1 ½ yards of small scale backing fabric (you will make faux binding with this fabric, so pick something small scale and not stripes)

·      36” x 40” of batting (I used Warm and Natural, but you should use Warm and White if your “vanilla” fabric is white and not cream.)

·      coordinating thread (I used cream on the top and light brown on the back)

Steps

1.     Press each of your 3 fabrics.  Taking one of the pieces, line up the selvages and smooth out.  Straighten the edge by cutting off the excess.  Then cut three 5-inch strips.  Trim each of the strips to 5” x 36”.   Just line up the fold at the 18 inch mark and cut off the extra.

2.     Lay out your strips on the floor in order:  chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and repeat twice.  Make sure if any of your fabrics have direction (like the paisley in my quilt) you have them all facing the same way.

3.     Pick up the second strip and lay face down (right sides together) on top of the first strip.  Sew together using a ¼ inch seam allowance.  Press seam open.

4.     Continue sewing the strips together in order.  When finished, check your quilt top to see if it’s square.  I did this by folding it in half in the direction of the strips and then using my ruler to cut off on the sides a tiny bit to make it perfectly square.

5.     Get the quilt top ready to make a quilt sandwich.  I press mine really well to make sure all the seams are extremely flat.  I think it’s very important NOT TO USE STEAM in this step.  You could pull on the fabric and make your seams look really wavy.  Just press.

6.     Press the backing fabric.  Then lay it down right side down and use painter’s tape to secure it to your floor.  I tape pretty much every where around the circumference.  Some people don’t.  It’s up to you.  Use your hands to smooth out the fabric as your taping it down so there are no wrinkles. 

7.     Lay your batting on top of the backing.  Again, work out all the wrinkles in the batting with both your hands.  Then place your quilt top right side up on the batting.  Smooth it out perfectly.

8.     Start pinning in the center of the quilt and work your way out.  I pin every 6-8 inches and along the edges and corners.  I think it’s important to not have all your pins oriented in the same direction.  Having them inserted in the fabric at different angles will keep your fabric from sliding around inside the pins.  In addition, never jam a safety or quilter’s pin into your quilt sandwich.  Sometimes the fabric can get wound around the coil at the bottom of the pin and the pin can’t be removed without creating a hole in the fabric.  Just gently insert them through the fabric.

9.     Remove the painter’s tape and, if desired, trim the excess backing fabric, but make sure to leave about 2 inches of extra backing on all four sides of the quilt.

10.   Quilt as desired.  I quilted lazy eights on each strip (found here at A Few Scraps) and some wavy lines on each seam, which turned out really pretty on the back of the quilt as well.  I used cream thread on the top and light brown on the back.

11.   Here’s the trickiest part—trim off the excess batting but DO NOT cut off the extra backing.  You will need this fabric if you want to create a quick faux binding.  I fold the backing fabric under the quilt top and then cut, but be extremely careful to make sure the backing fabric is completely out of the way of your shears.
12.   Take your quilt to your cutting table and cut the backing leaving a 1 inch perimeter around the entire quilt.  Fold the 1 inch backing fabric in half all the way around the quilt.  I used steam for this part, but I made sure not to manipulate or pull the fabric at all (or you might get folds in your binding), just lay the iron on top and steam the crease into the fold.  Then, pin the backing to the front.  Voila!  Use a walking foot to sew around the edge and your quilt is bound.

My daughter loves her quilt! Any questions, feel free to contact me at thebusybeequiltshop@hotmail.com.

   

 

EQ7

My most wonderful husband got me the new EQ7 for Mother's Day.  I am looking forward to reading the manual and watching some of the tutorial videos.  It seems pretty user friendly from me just piddling around with it yesterday.  I could figure out a lot of things on my own from the function buttons  and can't wait to see what it can do!!! 

I am hoping this program will help me clean up some mess around here!

Case in point, here's what my kitchen table looks like:

My baby is taking a nap and the other two are watching some Scooby Doo, so I am going to sew!!!



Sneak Peek

This June will mark my daughter Bea's third dance recital.  Yep, you heard that right.  She just turned five, but she already has two dance recitals under her belt.  Sometimes I feel bad that Esther didn't get to do as much as Bea did when Bea was 2, but I guess that's the nature of the beast for the middle child.  Her day is coming anyway, because Bea will start school this fall and then she'll be the top dog during the day.  Bea's dance song is "You've Got a Friend in Me" (your blog's first song, Donna!).

As far as the tumbler quilt goes, I am piecing it together this morning.  Yesterday I met my sister-in-law and her 9 month old for lunch in Leonardtown, and we stopped by the LQS shop called Olde Town Stitchery.  There's a basket with older fabrics in it marked 45% off if you buy the remaining fabric on the bolt.  I bought that Oz floral on the bottom right, a little less than 2 yards, for $9 yesterday.  I think it would make a good binding and I can use it for part of the backing as well.  Once I had that picked out, I thought the quilt needed a small dose of magenta and a few more larger scale prints, so you can see the other fabrics on the right auditioning for the part.  They all made it!  Hurray!

So I'll show you the new and improved fall tumbler quilt when I've got it all pieced. 

Fall Tumbler Quilt

 I saw this quilt over at Cluck Cluck Sew last December and really wanted to make one like it.  But I was 9+ months pregnant at the time and not motivated to cut out a gazillion tumbler blocks.  I had barely enough energy to stay up after my two girls went to bed and watch old reruns of Law and Order and eat Bruster's ice cream:)

Since I saw Allison's quilt, I started collecting some fabrics I thought would look good in a similar quilt.  I've picked up a few fat quarters here and there and then last week I bought some 1/2 yards on sale at fabric.com and a few on Etsy.  I think I've accumulated just the right mixture of colors and scale to make this quilt beautiful.  Here's what I ended up with:



These fabrics were a departure for me.  I am partial to buying all the fabric in a quilt from the same manufacturer and line.  I've never used Joel Dewberry, Amy Butler, or the Japanese imports before.  My kids and I laid out all the blocks this morning and I am hoping to have it pieced by the end of tomorrow morning!

Lesson Learned!

I have so many stories of terrible, terrible, terrible mistakes I have made while learning to sew.  But one I am not going to make anymore is to ask for help if I need it.  I am lucky to have some quilty friends who have helped me out from time to time.  I am making a concerted effort to get into the habit of asking for help when I need it instead of trying to work it out on my own--wasting my precious free time, frustrating myself, and adding to my gigantic UFO pile.  And, I am going to start taking classes at the LQS. 

Today I took a private lesson in binding from one of the LQS instructors who happens to live basically across the street.  Doing a good binding has been so mystifying to me and I've seen so many tutorials on how to do it, that I was just bungling it up time and time again.  It was so frustrating to see my beautiful and time-consuming pieced quilt top get uglied up by my unprofessional looking binding.  But, I am happy to report that the private lesson paid off and was worth ten times the price I paid for it!   Exhibit A:

I have never met a more perfect mitered corner on any quilt I've ever put binding on!  Here's a photo of the complete quilt.  It's quite small--made with some leftover Deb Strain Love Is In The Air charms--and my 2 year old has already staked a claim to it.  I attached the binding to the back and have pinned it all down to the front except for a small 6 inch piece where I ran out of pins!!!  I plan to machine sew it to the front tonight after bedtime.

I also have ratcheted up my machine quilting skills and have branched out from just quilting squiggles.  This time I did nice little flourishes and curliques all over and it looks pretty great!

And I also finished up this table topper that I made for my cousin.  I have a square table topper of the same fabrics on a round table in our living room that she's admired before, so I made this one for her kitchen table.  I plan to give it to her for Mother's Day.

And I'm also partial to the quilting on this one as well.  I tried to make viney leaves on the back of this (it's backed with brick red linen) and I quite like it, too.  After my lesson in binding today, I've decided to sign up for a machine quilting class next month.