Back to Basics

I gave you a sneak peek at what I was working on a couple of weeks ago. Well, I finished the nine patch project and I’m calling it “Back to Basics” since the quilt is using basic blocks through out. I decided to use the four patch corners in each block between 4.5 inch window panes which made each block end up being a 12.5 inch block. I took a few days to try to figure out what to do for a border.

I had purchased a Jelly roll of Bali prints called “Spumoni” to use in the 4 patch blocks because I just did not have enough Bali assortments in my stash. I even bought some other Bali fabric to use for a border which I thought might work but later decided against it. I had originally purchased a fabric which featured “Tea cups” and had planned to use at first for the border but the longer I worked on the project I decide that I need to stick to Bali prints instead.

I did keep the original background fabric which I had bought soon after getting my nine patches back last fall. So I decided to a piece simple border using 2.5 inch Bali pieces and 2.5 inch background pieces sandwiched between 2.5 inch background strips for the border.

As I was putting together the border and after I had decided what to call the Quilt I realized that the background fabric that I had been using was actually an RJR fabric from 2006 called “ Back to Basics”!

I hope you enjoy it. Now to figure out how to Quilt it!



Later,



Jan

Sneak Peek

Sneak Peek…

Thought I would give you a peek at what I am working on. Do you remember the nine patch blocks that I got from my Nine Patch Swap? Well, they are coming together. I picked out a back ground fabric and I am going to town. I had picked a fabric for a large border but I am having second thoughts….I do that sometimes as the blocks come together. And now I am not too sure so I will leave that decision open for a while.
Here’s a peek…

Anybody recognize this one?  Pretty, isn't it?

  

How about this one?

They look like they are coming together!

And some pretty little 4 patch blocks!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Playing with the layout!  That is a Navy blue flannel sheet on the bed... So the blocks stay put as I play!
Stay tuned for more peeks...

The sounds of Christmas...

When I was 6 or 7 years old, I slept in the bottom bunk of a set of bunk beds which my Dad made….I wonder what happened to those bunk beds. I recall that were monstrously huge and very heavy to move. Years later they would be moved to the smaller bedroom where Matt and Mark would sleep. Mark fell out of the top bunk on night when he slid under the guard rail and broke his collar bone. I don’t think we moved that bed to Imlay years later.

Thanksgiving had come and gone and it was obvious that we were getting ready for Christmas. Many nights I would lay in my bed, listening to the activity in the rest of the house. I would hear Mom open the leaf on the table to make it bigger. I would hear a soft thud as she placed something on the table followed by a metallic clicking sound which sounded like I was unbuckling my boots. Soon I would hear a hum, a pleasant sound, that would start and stop regularly. Then a clicking noise or two and followed but the hum again. A shuffle of paper and a snipping sound and again the hum. I would lay there looking at the plywood bottom of the top bunk trying to imagine what my parents were doing.

I would hear the grinding squeak of the cardboard table, as someone opened it. My father made our Christmas cards for many years. He would start around Thanksgiving with construction paper, stencils, pens, paint, sequence, glitter and glue. He would draw shapes and we would cut them out. He would sit in front of the TV and assemble cards and write on the inside. This was back in the 1960’s long before crafting and card making became the trend that it is today! I wish I had some of those old cards he made! I think he would be pleasantly surprised how popular this activity had become. I believe he enjoyed making them. He was very creative but their may have been a financial budget purpose to it as well.

I would lie in my bed listening to the sounds of holiday activities until I eventually fell asleep. The next morning I would go out to the kitchen. The table would be small again and ready for our breakfast. The card table would be nowhere in sight…I would wonder what they were doing…When I would go to bed the next evening the process would repeat again ….The sound of Christmas and wonderful memories…

Be sure to take a moment to look, listen and really fully experience the new Christmas memories you are making!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love, Jan

10 Minute Table Runners

Tis the week before Christmas

And how do I know?

The sewing machines humming,

As I sew and sew…

Daddy is snuggled so neatly in bed

While across the hall,

So many ideas fill my head.

A perfect poinsettia print

from my stash

Will pair well with

the new red plaid,

A pine bough, pine cone and holly gem

Paired with a pretty green fabric from Barrington

 
 

A winter scene fabric

from last week’s find

Will blend so well

with the blue of mine.

Stash fabric with

holiday wishes galore

Goes well with a print

used for trim before

A cute little Snowman print
Paired with a fabulous red and white check
Sure to becomes the next great event.

Fabric all paired and laid on the mat
ruler in hand and keep the cutter flat
Press down firmly and cut as you go
Making the strips that we will sew.

With the needle threaded,
And the bobbin full
If power is on
You are ready to go.

Right sides together
Feetdogs are up
Sew the seam on the right
One quarter inch up

The iron is hot
And showing its might
Bellowing of steam
All through the night

Pressing your seams
will make them so nice
a perfect piece, sure to delight

Now it is time to do it again
Left sides together and let us begin
By placing the fabric on the sewing machine
Presser foot resting with the fabric in between.

A push on the foot pedal and off you will fly
Another quarter inch seam on the other side.
Now turn the fabric so the right sides you see
And a press of the iron to the newly sewed seam

On to the third step with a quick little trim
with the rotary cutter on each of the fabric ends
Now they are even and easy to sew
A short little seam on both sides you know…

 And a quick little turn and you are almost there

With a press of the iron, it’s time to declare

The project’s complete  with time to spare

And ten minute table runners are everywhere!

Does that sound familiar? It's nearing Christmas at our house and I am busy making Christmas gifts. And yes have gotten totally carried away with these Ten Minute Table runners. As I scan my stash piles, I see fabric that is just begging to be sewed up. This has to be the reason that I bought this fabric, right?

Well all I can say is that I am not much of a poet but sometimes "the moment"  just calls for a me to try.

So there you have it and I hope you enjoy it!  A Quick little Christmas ditty from Jan!

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy Sewing New Year!

Jan Smith!

Been sewing up a storm...

I have been sewing up a storm.  There is such nice Christmas fabric out there this year.  I never really had a desire to do a Christmas Quilt per say.  I always thought that the season was just too short.  This year after doing the Nine Patch Block swap, I decided to participate in a Christmas Star block swap. It sure has been fun.

Twenty five or six woman are making different Star Blocks using classic red, green, white and gold Christmas fabric. It was decided that we could you the white for the background.  SO I have been busy making my twenty-four blocks 

I have the Mariners Compass Star which happens to be a paperpieced block. It has been a long time since I did a paper pieced block so I needed to do some home work.  I went online and found a couple of different patterns but had trouble remembering how to contruct the block.  I got my foundation paper and made some copies but I just could not remember how to do the block.  Paper piecing can be a challenge for a dyslexic like me. With Paper piecing you are really construction the block backwards using a piece of vellum paper as your form, since a dyslexic already does things backwards in their brain this was difficult for me to remember how to do it.

After a week of wasting paper and fabric, I bought a book!  I found a block with a block which represents a different country.  I picked the Africa block because it was simple and had 4 colors. I made the first block per the instructions and it all came rushing back!  I remember how to do this !  I found my post card and before I knew it I was off and running!

Here's the paper pattern and the four Christmas fabrics which I used. I finished them in two weeks...and will be sending them off to Kim in Ohio today.  Sometime the first week of December or so she will send me one of each of the 24 star blocks that she recieves from all the people who participated and I will have the makings of a beautiful new Christmas Quilt.

I will share with you the all blocks that I recieve and the finished quilt sometime in 2011 when it is done.
I hope that you have enjoyed this.


I have been busy making 10 minute table runners for Christmas. I have one small wall hanging to finish assembling and then get it to the quilter...Since I do not have my macine yet and I am running out of time. I hope that you all enjoy your Thanksgiving Holiday and the Christmas season as it begins in earnest.

Thanks for my many blessings!

Love,

Jan

Nine patch Swap

It was fun to participate in the Nine Patch Swap with the members of the Machine Quilting Professional Yahoo Group in September. I was disappointed when I first heard about the swap in August. I had so much to do to get ready for my trip overseas that I would have no spare time for making Nine Patches blocks. It was such a disappointment. I told myself, “Jan, you just can’t do everything!” And immediately remembered how often I had told my boys that when they were growing up. So I just put it out of my mind and figured that there would be another block swap that I could get involved with at a better time....
 
When I arrived home on the 21st of September and went thru by back log of email, I noticed that there were still posts about the Nine Patch swap. It looked like there were still people who were getting involved with it. They had decided to push the finish date out on the swap until the first week of October. ”Nine Patches are quick to make, in two weeks I can get a set done and get some for my beginner's quilt class too", I had thought. My class will start in November at the Material Girl in Crystal Lake. The more I thought about it, I could get a set done in a day or two. So I asked if it was too late to join and the swap organizer assured me that it was not. So I got some fabric and I was off and sewing. Before I knew it I had 8 completed for my sewing class and two sets of twenty blocks done for the block swap! It was so much fun.



I sent them just in time and anxiously awaited my return package!  The day that it arrived in my mailbox, my husband was in his sarcastic but playful mood when he handed me the package and said, "Oh so you are sending yourself mail these days!!!".  I just stuck my tongue out at him and grabbed my packaged....I tried to explain to him about the "self address envelope" and the quilt block swap but he did not seem interested in hearing about it. He just walked off to the other room in the middle of my explanation... So  ... I hurried off in the other direction ripping open the envelope as I went.  As I sank into the chair at my computer, I examined the new blocks I received.  They are very pretty and a wide variety of pretty batik fabrics. 

I have decided that I will set them “on point”.  I am hoping that they will appear to float on the quilt surface.  This Photo is of one half of the blocks.  I took them to my local Quilt Shop and found a fabric to use as the back ground and some possible borders.  What do you think?  It is a cream background with small letters and numbers on it which create a bit of a marbled effect at a distance.  This winter (after the Christmas rush) I will work on this one…I will keep you up todate on how this goes as I put it together.

In the mean time I have signed on again for another swap. This one is a Star Swap using Christmas colors of red, green, gold and white. I have the Mariner’s Compass Star. It is a foundation block. I have not done a  foundation block in a few years so I had to re-teach myself….But that is a dyslexic story for another blog.

Happy Stitchin’,

Jan

It's October already!

It’s October all ready and I have been very busy.  I have been working on Halloween table runners which are turning out cute but not ready for prime time yet.  I have also been busy with embroidery for customer and for gifts.   I have this habit of trying to do multiple projects at once and am at it again. I whipped together 40 batik nine patch blocks for a nine patch swap the week after I returned from Denmark. I knew about the swap before I left but did not think I had time to participate.  While I was playing catch up on my email, I discovered that the group had extended the deadline by two weeks so now...I might just have enough time to pull it off.  So when I started to look at fabric for my "Begining Quilt blocks" class, I decided that I had time and bought extra fabric. I thought it would never hurt me to practice a nine patch block or 40 nine patch blocks.

I sent two packages of twenty blocks each.   And a week or so later, I received a package with 40 wonderful batik nine patch blocks.  When I assemble the blocks, you will see the end results.  I'll take a few photo's of the blocks I received so you can see what I got in return and what I will be working with for my next blog....  

I have been working with Susie Fox at a new Crystal Lake quilt shop called “The Material Girl”. I am putting together a Beginning Quilting Class.  We will do 4 basic blocks starting with the fence rail block.  Then the next class will cover the Nine Patch block.  The third class will cover the Pinwheel block . And the last class a Log Cabin block.  The students will make 8 each of the four different blocks which will help them to remember the process of making the block with practice ( times 8!). We will meet for a fifth class and assemble the sampler with sashing and borders.  The classes will be on Sunday afternoon from 1 PM to 3PM and begin in mid November and run until the weekend before Christmas.  We will not meet on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. 

Now I am writing directions and getting ready. I am really looking forward to it.  There is nothing better than teaching something new to someone.  The look on some ones face when they “get it” brings a smile to my face!

Happy sewing until next time!

Jan