My Day of Dusting off a Quilt Book

It's my day too show an old a forgotten quilt book. This blog hop is being hosted by Beaquilter. The idea was to dust off, excuse me while I find the duster it's around here some place. Ahh dust bunnies be gone. Anyway the idea was to make a project from it.

After doing a big clean a few years ago, I thought I had given away my older quilt books. Imagine my surprise at finding a book from 1994. I think I kept it as I liked a couple of the projects in it.

1994 I think I may be dating myself, a hardcover book at that.

A couple new pillows for my living room where on my to do list. What better time to start than now. 

this is the project I decided on

I pulled some scraps and got to it. The house is appliqued and for that I used my favourite method, Crafted Applique by Lara Buccella. I used Superior MonoPoly thread and the buttonhole stitch to stitch down the applique. In no time at all I had the pillow top done.

please excuse the dull colours due to lack of sunshine

I quilted it simply with some big loops in the background and swirls in the borders to keep it soft. I used my favourite batting Hobb's Premium 80/20. 

ahh finally some sun to brighten things up

For the pillow back I used Winter Elegance from in The Beginning Fabrics that I picked up from Stitch-It Central. I like zipped backs for my pillows. I am not going to do a tutorial as there are a lot of good ones on the internet. You can find a tutorial here.

zippered back

For the binding I used the backing fabric cut at 2'' instead of my usual 2 1/4''. 

An older book can have patterns that are still relevant today made with more up to date fabrics and even methods. I think my pillow adds a little charm to the place.

Take a look through your own collection. You never know what might inspire you. 

To see pillow number 2 come back on March 12th for the 'Text-it' Blog Hop.

To see what others have found in their collections visit  the following blogs. 

Monday Feb 18^th

Turid at densyendehimmel

Pamela at Pamelaquilts

Joan at Moosestashquilting

Anne at seems like a plan

Susan at Desertsky Quilting

Selina at Selinaquilts

Kathleen at Kathleenmcmusing

Tuesday Feb 19^th

Cindy Stitchin at home

Jennifer at curlicuecreations

Stephanie at stephjacobsondesigns

Kathy at Kathysquilts

Shasta at high road quilter
Theresa at bumbleberrystitches

Wednesday Feb 20^th

Sharon at Vrooman’s quilts

Suzy at Websterquilt

Nancy at patchworkbreeze

Karrin at karrinscrazyworld

Denise at craftraditions

Thursday Feb 21^st

Anita at Domestic Felicity

Leanne at Devoted Quilter

Jennifer at Dizzyquilter

Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks

Lee Anne at Podunk Pretties

Andree at quiltinglearningcombo

Lyndsey at Sew Many Yarns

Friday Feb 22^nd

Bea at Beaquilter

Barbara at Bejweledquilts

Laura at slice of pi quilts

Sherry Powered By Quilting

Pat at Life in the Scrapatch

Carol at Just let me quilt

Kathy at Kathy's Kwilts and More

Marian at seams to be sew
Brenda at songbirddesigns

A Couple Guild Projects

For my guilds comfort quilt program we have been making monthly block challenges. The members seem to enjoy this. All the blocks we make are 10''. 

I am the keeper of the challenge blocks. They are kept in 'official' block storage containers.

started with one 'official' container and had to up it to two

I'm sure you can tell by the above picture how the blocks are stored. If not look below.

yup that's a pizza box they make ideal block storage containers

Sometimes keeping the lids closed is a bit of a problem. But transporting them to meetings is easy. My guild meets in the morning. After the meeting some of the members stay and sew. We have put together quite a few tops from the various challenge blocks. Some members will take a top home if it isn't finished during sew time and finish them up.

I pulled the black and white blocks that were made in the fall. I found a nice black print with red flowers to use for sashing and borders, the corner stones are black.

a 4 x 5 setting of 10 inch blocks ready for one of our longarmers

The second quilt I worked on was a panel. I added a couple borders. This one I quilted and bound. A few pictures follow. It was a pretty panel.

panels are fun to quilt

A closeup of one of the flowers.

I outlined the flowers and stitched some lines in to separate the petals 

A picture of the back.

all those beautiful flowers look as good from the back

How Many are too Many?

While doing some straightening up, I realized I have a few rotary cutters. Okay maybe more than a few if I'm being honest.

my collection of rotary cutters

The cutter on the left is a Fiskars I don't really like it, I have a wave blade in it. I think it may have been one of the first ones I bought, years ago when I was first starting to quilt. 

Fiskars and the wavy blade

Next up are the two rotary cutters I use the most. They are both Olfa my favourite brand.

a 60mm Deluxe and a 45mm Splash

The 45mm is my most used cutter. A few months ago I purchased the endurance blades and I must say I'm liking it.

I have an used dull  blade in this one that I keep just for cutting paper when paper piecing

I keep an old blade in this 45mm for trimming papers when doing paper piecing, I use freezer paper most of the time.  But I like to trim the papers up to size before using them, so this cutter comes in quite handy and is used a fair amount in my quilt making as I tend to like paper pieced patterns.

What collection would be complete without a couple specialty rotary cutters in it?

A 28mm and a circle rotary cutter and oh yes it has been out of the package and used. 

 I like the small 28mm for cutting around templates. The small size goes around the templates easier than the 45mm.

I just remembered I also have a 45mm Deluxe rotary cutter. Yup I do have a thing for rotary cutters.

I'm participating in “Dust off a Quilt Book” Blog hop this month. Look for my post on February 19th.

To see the list of those participating go to Beaquilter blog. 

So I ask you do you have a collection of rotary cutters or am alone in the rotary cutter collection world?

First Finish of 2019

 It feels good to have a finish this soon in the new year. I wanted something new for my table, you can read more about that here. I like the soft colours I used in this piece. That new star block ain't too bad either. It is paper pieced using one of my favourite methods freezer paper.

first finish of 2019

As you can tell the picture was taken on a cloudy overcast day. I apologize but ladies it's way to cold to go play outside today, it's -15 Celsius feeling like -25 with the windchill in Fahrenheit that's 5 feeling like -13. Anyway you say it, it is darn cold out.

fmq is some simple  lines and stippling

I used Aurifil my favourite thread for the quilting.  I also use Aurifil for piecing. Colour #2310 a light beige is what I used for this piece. The background fabric is a creamy beige colour. I used the same 2310 in all the pieces as it blended so nicely. The quilting is some swirls with feathers, stipples and ruler work for straight lines at 1/2 spacing.

I wasn't sure the back would show the quilting as well as it does

The topper finishes after washing at 28 1/2'' by 28 1/2'' a nice size for my table. I will be writing a pattern for this one, right now it's a scribbled mess of numbers and instructions. Some deciphering may have to take place first. I was in full speed ahead mode to get this one done.

I am having trouble getting the banner for Shop.myBluprint.com (affiliate link) to show up. If you purchase something through my link I get a few pennies and it costs you nothing more.

I will be linking up to the usual
Cooking up Quilts

Linky Tuesday https://conniekresin.com

https://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com

Midweek Makers https://www.quiltfabrication.com/

Follow the Path in Make Modern Magazine

I am happy to announce that I have a quilt  'Follow the Path' published in Issue 26 of Make Modern magazine. This is a digital magazine and is available at Make Modern. (affiliate link)

follow the path

A look at who and what is available in Issue 26.

that's me on page 53

To get a copy of the magazine  use the code MM26sale to get a copy for only AU$6 for the next 48 hours. Code expires Sunday, 13th January when the issue will go back to standard price of AU$8. 

One more picture of the quilt.

I hope your day is off to as good a start as mine!

Where I sell now

As has been mentioned Craftsy has made a number of changes. I still have a shop...2 out of more than 40 patterns remain, the rest gone. I haven't given up on Craftsy/Bluprint just yet. They are re-branding themselves and we will see what the future holds for them and me.  I have been weighing my options as to were I wanted to sell my patterns. For now that will be on Etsy, I have loaded a few there and will add more as time allows.

Most of the last few months I have done little to no sewing. I finally feel like my mojo is returning.  First up since the lapse is a new table topper, after I took my Christmas one off I felt I wanted another to replace it.

fabric pull these are FQ's except for the background piece

I pulled some FQ's that were happy to see daylight instead of being hidden away in a drawer.

I decided on a design that I drew up in EQ8. It is paper pieced, and the blocks are 10'' instead of 12 as someone may have cut a strip off of the floral FQ...hmm wonder who would have done anything like that. 

a couple blocks made and a few more to go

I have only been able to fit in a few minutes here and there sewing, BUT it feels so good to be sewing again. I have my machine problems solved I hope.

In other news I forgot to mention who won a free pattern from this post here. The winner was Claudia and the pattern has been sent to her already.

Now back to sewing, I have a table topper to finish and a couple upcoming blog hops to get projects made for.

Christmas Wishes

Wishing you and yours the happiest of holidays!