Another Scrappy Burgoyne Surrounded

While I was in Canada, I worked with an amazing Kinder teacher

by the name of Gail Hegquist.  I think I was in her class for

 7 of the 17 years I spent as a School and Support Worker.

Her daughter, Alana met a wonderful man from the Netherlands last year,

 and they had a small wedding ceremony in the early Spring.

This summer when I was making my teacher friend, Heather's wedding quilt;

I knew I would have enough materials to make another

Burgoyne Surround quilt for this couple also.

I added a blue border for Christiaan's heritage and I

was so pleased with how it turned out.

I hope the newly married couple will spend many happy nights

under the quilt.

Drunkard's Path for Rachael or purplicious Good Fortune by Moda

I have been commissioned to make a couple of quilts this year!

One of the said quilts will require a ton of template work to make

 Drunkard's Paths.  My youngest daughter's best friend Rach - just purchased her own condo and Jessica said her Laura Ashley comforter needed to go. 

This offered me the perfect occasion to make a practice quilt using the new templates.

The quilt has lots of purple as that is the recipients fav color.  I am sorry

that I didn't get a picture once it was completed and the phone pics the girls sent

were not too clear, but her is the topper completed.

I added a very modern backing in geometric shapes with purples,

gold and pink so it is actually reversible now :)

I also added a couple of pillowcases to coordinate and Rach absolutely loved

her new quilt and was said to be rolling all over it like a cat!

Gemma's Bug Quilt

A few years ago, before my youngest granddaughter

Gemma was born I made quilts for Kaitlyn and McKenna

using a bug jelly roll I had picked up at Tuesday Mornings.

Along came Gemma and I just knew I had to make her a bug quilt too with the same material - hmmm I couldn't find that jelly roll anywhere on the Internet.

So I went to the Quilting Board and asked the members there, if

anyone had this jelly roll in their stash.

Yippee a lady from Virginia answered my plead and we agreed to swap out fabrics

She was working on a charm quilt in green and asked that I send her

2.5 inch WOF green strips in exchange for the bug jelly roll.

It was a perfect answer to my quest for the bug jelly roll, I was surprised

at just how many greens I had in my stash and was able to send her 

44 different green strips and I added some other

unusual greens that were not exactly WOF.

I was so happy to be able to give my name sake - Gemma Elizabeth

a quilt with bugs along the same lines as her sisters.

Gemma's quilt was made from a sale pattern called Square Root 

from Connecting Threads and has applique on it.  I swear

the applique took as much time as the whole quilt did.

I am not a fan of applique that is for sure.

This is about as close to modern quilting as I get for now :)

Heather and Zack's Wedding Present - Burgoyne Surrounded in Scrappy

My friends, Heather and Zack went and got married in a quiet ceremony

this past April before moving to Michigan.

It took awhile to get around to finishing all my summer quilts up,

 but they all went into the mail or Fedex just before school

started again. In my haste, I even forgot to take some picture!

However, I did get 3 nice pictures of this quilt to share :)

The quilt ended up measuring 120 x120 with out any borders -

so the perfect size for a king size bed. The only thing that is consistent with this quilt is the center square - a burgundy fabric to represent Heather's heart and all the other squares are indicative of the love that she has for us all and the lives that she has touched through her teaching and just being the wonderful woman she is!

A new Babylock Jane has found a new home!

Let me introduce you to Jane!

Here she is my straight stitch and FMQ machine.

My dear husband, Carnell bought me this machine for our anniversary.  I had been tossing around the idea of a new machine, as I was wearing out my Sapphire 830. I was leaning towards a Juki 2010, but Carnell said why buy something off the internet when we already have a rapport with our local sewing machine shop.  Ian, over at Tanner's gave me an excellent deal on Jane and I have been happily sewing up a storm ever since she  came to live with us!  She isn't fussy about needles, thread and sews beautifully straight stitch.   

Ella Elizabeth Bowersox's Quilt

My bestie teacher friend here in the USA had a baby girl last August 23, 2012  - today July 1st  I went to show the picture and discovered that it was not on my blog.  I think my rationale was that I was waiting for the baby to be born and it slipped my mind.  Well, here it is - the pattern is called Gramma's Joy and I added the prairie points because they are just so darn cute!  Alas, the Bowersox's have moved to Michigan to be closer to family and friends.  We all miss them terribly here!

Bad Day at Black Rock for me and my sewing machines :( Or at least that is what my Mum said when things went wrong!

Sunday was a bad day for me and my sewing machines!

I have been working really hard at finishing up the piecing of a wedding present!  All of a sudden my Sapphire 830 started to stitch with micro stitches and clunking.  I gave it a shot of WD40 (I feel this was a bad move) on two hinges under the stitch plate but nothing happened.  Tanners called and it will be around $200.00 to get it fixed - ugh! 

So next, I got out my Elna 3210 which I must say has the loveliest stitch.  I am sewing along quite happily and I turn the work over and ever so often there is a loop.  The loop is about the size of the loop at the end of a dental floss threader.  Bizarre, I have never seen something like that.

*** Update on my Elna - it was the nasty Coasts thread causing the problem. I have Aurfil thread in it now and we are "cooking with gas" once again. I must say this machine has the nicest stitch I have ever see.

So now I am down two machines - this is why we have spare sewing machines right?

So out comes Annie Merle, my featherweight.  I start sewing on it and her tension is off also.  I play with it for awhile and then put her back on the shelf.

Now, I am down to my last machine a Brother, hmm will the boy come through for me!

Yes, this machine is working just fine - OMG finally.

 

Once again I am thinking about the Juki 2000 or 2010.  Everyone says what a fantastic machine it truly is.  However, going into the summer months I am hesitant to spend money.  Perhaps, if I piece on my Elna and then once the Husky is back I can just do FMQ on it while I ponder buying another sewing machine.  What should a girl do?

 

 





A Quilt kit and my first BOM

Above is from the first quilt kit I bought - it is called "A Bow on Top" and from the Fat Quarter Quilt Shop in Texas, now I would never pay $99.00 for a kit but half price and with the pattern I can do.  The fabric was all Moda and features Little Red Riding Hood - so adorable.  It was for my friend Charisma in Canada to celebrate the arrival of their daughter Ava.  Super easy pattern and very cute to boot!

My girlfriend, Clara brought me over a big suitcase and bag of scraps in January and while sorting through it I came upon a whole bunch of papers. When I put all of those papers into order I found this Block of the Month called All Around the Farm. Looking at it now, I can see a mistake but that is okay, it was really fun to put together and I learned how to make a Snail's Tail and even did a bit of applique on the boy and the crow! I used muslin for the background and micro-stippled on all of the background.  I must take a picture of it finished and add it to this posting - next time I am taking pictures.  I have a friend in upper NY state who is retiring this year from her school support job  and they are dairy farmers also - this will be her gift!



Wow, I am really behind on my picture posting - so here is goes :)

This pattern is called "Welcome Spring" and is from the Moda Bake Shop.  It is made with jelly roll strips and yardage.  I used the Serpentine stitch on my machine for the straight line quilting.  I was inspired by a similar quilt posted on the quilting forum I frequent,  www.quiltingboard.com .  The quilt was for a co-worker's daughter.

This quilt for a baby boy is from a pattern called Enigma.  I had purchased a fat quarter collection at the 7 Sisters Quilt Show in San Luis Obispo last month with the intent of making a co-worker's quilt as her baby shower present.  I love the bright colors!  I have it draped over the rocking chair that my daughter Jessica and I rescued from the curb on garbage day.  I think I will skip the draping effect in the future and go back to flat pictures.

 



 

Below is a Shadowbox quilt I made for my sister, Barbara.  Hopefully, she doesn't come to the blog and spoil her surprise waiting for her when she comes in a few weeks.  As usual, there are coordinating pillowcases :)  Mistakes are part of the quilting process, and there is one in this quilt but it doesn't take away from the beauty of the quilt at all.  This was made with a collection of fabric from my best quilting friend Clara.

 

This a another Shadowbox - truly this was the trial quilt and it has no errors - go figure.  Anyways, our classroom teacher Malikah is leaving us next month for new teaching adventures and this is her farewell quilt.  I bought this pattern on a bus trip with my quilting guild a few years ago, and had totally forgotten about it until I saw a post on the quilting forum I visit.  It was the first pattern I ever purchased. Most of the fabric for this quilt was from a fat quarter set bought at Tuesday Morning - yep they have fabric there sometimes.

Jinny Beyer border quilt - I call "Shenandoah" (out of my comfort zone) colors seemed washed out when taking picture outside :(

 

My husband's cousin came for a visit in October and asked me if I would make her a quilt. "Of course", I said and she went and chose a quilt out of my magazines and books. She selected a quilt out of my comfort zone, but I am always up to a challenge. Gail ordered the border fabric needed and I spend a couple of months collecting the other fabrics needed. The original pattern made a quilt too small so I doubled everything. It is almost king size now! The pattern had the name of another mountain range, but Gail and DH are from Virginia so I wanted a more personal name. I did the FMQ on my Viking Sapphire 830.

 

Yesterday, Salomon and Ruby were married!

Salomon is my BMF (best male friend) aside from my husband and he and his BFF Ruby were married yesterday.  It was a lovely ceremony and day.  Salomon and I work with exceptional students at Santa Monica High School.  Last year while on a community outing, we were at the thrift store and I found some quilting books.  Salomon and Ruby had just started planning their wedding,  so I had him pick a pattern out of one of the books I bought and asked what colors he wanted -  the pattern is called "Ice Crystal" and is made with all 1/2 square triangles.  I used sheets of paper that I photocopied out of the book - similar to Triangles on A Roll.  I personal feel this is one of the nicest quilts I have every made.  This is the info on the book I used incase you are interested:
The book is called Plentiful Possibilities A Timeless Treasury of 16 Terrific Quilts by Lynda Milligan and Nancy Smith C&T Publishing ISBN 1-57120-214-5 published in 2003.

 

Now for the happy couple!

 

I love that quilters on the internet are so supportive of each other :) aka I needed a Bugs Jelly Roll by Stripz

A few years ago I made my two beautiful granddaughters in Canada super twin sized quilts for their beds using a bug themed jelly roll that I had picked up at Tuesday Morning cheap.  Kaitlyn and McKenna share a room and I being the grandmother that lives far away wanted them to have something else from Grampa and I with them so they can remember us between visits.

So I made them each a quilt which has already been posted here on the blog

http://californiaquilting.blogspot.com/2012/03/more-creations.html

Now last year Gemma was born and I started my elusive search for the same jelly roll so that she too will have something similar to her sisters.  I was not having any luck at all finding the Bugs jelly roll but ....

I decided to post my request on the Quilting Board Forum that I belong to. Judy from Virginia answered my plead and at this very moment our respective parcels are flying through the air cross country to each other :)

Judy is working on a charm quilt and needed some green fabric (golly gee isn't green one of my favourite colours!) and I emailed here that I would cut WOF 2.5 inch strips from my stash and send them to her and she said that would be great and thanked me for making this such an easy swap.  Little did I know that I had over 50 different shades of green in my stash, and I threw in some small squares of olive green from another project I had done.

So a great big thank you to Judy in Virginia for making my wishes a reality!

So you want me to make you a quilt ......

Lately so many folks have been asking me what I would charge to make them a quilt.  Now, I certainly have enough ideas and people to make quilts for already, but I wouldn't be opposed to making a little stash building monies.

Having said that, no one has taken me up on my services and I am not heartbroken about this at all.  All of you that are quilters know how many hours go into the making of a quilt; from the initial concept to fabric and pattern selection, to preparing the fabric, cutting the pieces (a zillion sometimes), piecing the pieces, preparing the backing, choosing the proper batting, sandwiching the quilt hmm shall I use 505 spray adhesive, Elmer's glue method, home-made spray basting, pinning or thread basting (OMG never again!), fusible iron batting, and lastly thread selection for the quilting and the hours that even just a simple meandering takes.  We all know that a baby quilt takes less time than a king-size with a nice drop, but the process is the same for all quilts.

I have sold a few quilts in the past few years and recouped my expenses for material - nothing for the labour.  I knew both of the ladies that I sold to and was fine with that at that point in my life.  Now I want to be compensated for it all and here is what I have been and will be telling folks.

• We can get together and chose a pattern you can chose from mine for free!
• We will go to the big fabric warehouse and you can select the fabrics to make your quilt: that would include the piecing, backing, thread, and batting and if you want 2 pillowcases to coordinated we will need at least 2 yards of your fabric. 
• If there are any specialized notions for the specific quilt you have chosen - such as Triangles on a Roll you will need to supply them or provide monies so I can procure the notion. 
• If there are special rulers I will get those as I can use them again.
• You will be paying for all of the supplies at that time.
• You can anticipate spending anywhere from $65.00 for a baby quilt to $250.00 +++ for a king size quilt

Now to make your quilt it will be as follows:

Baby/Crib = $75.00

Twin = $150.00

Double/Full = $200.00

Queen = $250.00

Super Queen = $300.00

California King = $375.00

Eastern King = $425.00

2 pillow cases = $30.00

4 pillowcases = $50.00
Euro Pillow Shams = Same as above

If the quilt you chose is a paper pieced project you can double my costs, and if it involves applique we will not have gotten even to the store :)

This is for enquiring minds :)

My Husqvarna Sapphire 830 and its spring-loaded "darn" ing/ FMQ foot.

Pictured below are the two spring-loaded FMQ feet that I had purchased for my Husqvarna Sapphire 830 sewing machine. 



One had a clear bottom aka this was the newer model and the other had an open metal bottom.  Both were official Husqvarna feet and each one cost approximately $50.00.  I used each one for about 6 months when they "snapped" Now can you see that thin wire on the top of each one?  Through use that thin little wire has snapped on both of these feet - now I was ready to chalk this up to operator error, but I started to dig a little deeper on the Internet and found that others were having similar issues with that "darn" little wire. Kathy Upton, a follower of this blog had commented on this very issue on another blog  - this was a total coincidences that I saw her name and my name together - so a big high 5 to Kathy for pointing me (inadvertently) in the direction of the Leah Day you tube video I have marked here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwbNPgnP8r4

This video showed an easy adaptation to any spring-loaded foot to use for FMQ.  Voila, with a rubber band snagged from my classroom and a pair of needle- nose pliers I have elevated my FMQ to a higher level.
A higher level, you say!  Yes, do you remember the feel of an expensive Long Arm setup at the quilt shows - how the needle just slides over the fabric like a hot knife through butter; well that is exactly how my sewing machine is performing after this quick fix.  I even feel confident that I can spread my wings and try something other than meandering my quilts.

So, if your FMQ isn't quite where you want it to be watch Leah's video and step outta that box your in and try something new - you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Jessica's Visit

Santa Monica Pier

Rock Sculpture at Getty

Another rock sculpture at the Getty

Jessica and the 4 fabrics (all Robert Kaufman's) and the pattern that she selected from my newest quilt magazine.

Carnell and I had a lovely visit with Jessica.  She came for a week and it was too short a time but we fit in lots of fun things with lunch out every day!  This morning, the day of her departure we traveled to M & L Fabric Warehouse in Anaheim so that she could select the fabrics for her and Tim's bedroom.  She has a great eye for color and it will be an amazing quilt, I think I will try a wool batting as they live in Seattle and the weather is damp and 

cool for a lot of the year. 

Wanda's Washington Redskins Quilt

Our niece, Wanda in Virginia is an avid Redskins fan.  She called me up in January and asked it I could please make her a blanket (quilt) for her bed using Washington Redskins fabric.  So like the good Auntie I am, I ordered some official NFL fabric from Joann's (best price around), once I saw the fabric I thought what the heck can I do with this.  Thank goodness for the Quilting Board forum - someone there had made a quilt that also featured a large uncannily print using the Garden Maze pattern from the Quilt Cache website.  I knew right then and there that this was the pattern to use.  Below you will see how nicely the quilt did turn out.  I made 2 pillowcase to coordinate in the wine with black and a bit or Redskins fabric. 

Thus, another quilt is ticked off this years to do list!

Economical Spray Glue for basting from stuff you have at home :)

I have tweaked a recipe from a member of the Quilting Board forum that I follow.  Mrs. Beasley posted a recipe that I finally got around to trying yesterday, I modified the recipe to keep in step with my cooking style.  The spray glue mixture sprayed easily out of the bottle and had a nice adhesion to it.
So here we go!

3 cups of water
1/2 tsp salt
8 ounces or rubbing alcohol
clean spray bottle


- In a pot place 2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp of salt bring to a boil and reduce to a gentle boil.
- In a gravy shaker (or a jam jar) put 1 cup of cold water and 3 tbsp of flour - shake until the flour and water are combined.
- Whisk the flour mixture into the gently boiling water like you are making gravy and let it cook until the consistency of gravy/egg whites/ thin gruel.
- Remove from the heat and let it cool down to room temperature.
- In a clean spray bottle add 8 ounces of rubbing alcohol and the cooled flour mixture, gently shake and go sandwich a quilt.

*** There was one posting that someone had sprayed a quilt and left for a few months and they had some mold grow.  Since I am not going to leave my two quilts that I sandwiched yesterday that long I can't say for certain that this does or does not happen.  I just wanted everyone to know that this had been reported.

Thanks to Deb in NZ for having this :) My 2013 List

I am not sure if by making the list it kept me

on track last year, or just that I was more organized; either way it does help to stay motivated!

Things to do in 2013

Continue to work on my Stained Glass paper piecing quilt.

Don't Call Me Betsy - Lucky Star Paper Piecing I bought my quilting g/f in Canada the same BOM so that we could be together but apart. I finished January's 12.5 and 6 inch blocks, however I am still cutting off the tips some how :(

My best friend as work Salomon is getting married in May.

I will be making them a quilt. I already have the fabric from Connecting Threads, and he actually chose the pattern

out of a quilting book I picked up on a classroom outing

to the non-defunct local thrift store.  Completed and delivered :)

Angel one of the nieces here in LA and Lamar are also to be married this year in September. Years ago, I had made a

quilt for her daughter, Skiye (yes I did spell that right) to match the one I made for our granddaughter Isyss, but had not made one of Angel. Weddings are the perfect time to give a couple a family heirloom. I have not decided on a pattern yet, but I am leaning towards Eleanor Burns french braid.

Carnell's stepson, Sedric also announced at Christmas time

that he also was going to tie the knot once again.

They are planning to get married in Las Vegas in August - oh you know it is going to be a hot one! I just gave Sedric a

Turning Thirty - male orientated quilt at Christmas,

but that will not stop me from making them a nice quilt to

celebrate the beginning of their married life together.  Wedding postponed.

I recently learned that another high school g/f is retiring this year and I was making a BOM - Down on the Farm Quilt for her so that was fortuitous for me. After making a quilt for another high school g/f that lost everything in Hurricane Sandy I decided to make something for my other high school chums. COMPLETED READY TO MAIL.

I recently purchased some gorgeous Blue Hill Fabric from a fellow

Quilting Board member and I am going to make Sally my bestie from h/s a "Something Blue" quilt. This will be a total surprise and that is just the way I want it.

Our great nephew in Virginia should be going into a big boy bed very soon and I will make him a twin size quilt

with a sporting theme this year. No rush on this one,

just something on the back burner. Update Le Ari is not sleeping in a big boy bed, but will be sharing the Washington Redskins quilt with his Aunt Wanda so no rush on this one :)

Our niece, Wanda called a few weeks back requesting a

Washington Red Skins quilt for her

queen size bed. Now, Wanda already has a quilt from us

but I don't know if she will ever marry or have children

so I told her I would make her another one. I chose the Garden Maze quilt pattern to accent the Redskin's fabric with a black trim

Where there is white above I am using black. The blocks are 18 inches so I am almost done. I had to order more sold black fabric from Connecting Threads. Wanda also request curtains, but I said no to that, but I will do some pillow cases in wine with Redskins and black accents. - COMPLETED AND MAILED!

I am hoping to start on the OBW or Stack and Whack for

our bedroom - I have the fabric bought from Beverly's, but

other things always take priority.

I would also like to make a quilt for our seldom seen

granddaughter, Carshae in Virginia. She will have turned 6 in

November. I know I can send it to the niece's in Virginia

and they will see that she gets it.

Baby quilts are always needed, a boy is due in June and a girl

was born in December. The quilt I made for the couple that had a girl would be better suited for a boy so I will

save that one and make a girlie quilt for Little Miss Ava Jurica.

I am sure there will be more babies on the way soon! Our son, Carvell who is in the NAVY has let it be known that his g/f is expecting twins - so two more quilts there also. Update Ava's quilt is done and on its way to Canada.

I bought a Lighthouse quilt kit from Connecting Threads Black Friday Sale and I think that quilt is destined for a little fella named Jordin. He is the son of one of my stepson's friends and Jordin's grandmother asked me once in passing if I would ever give

Jordin a quilt, this might be the year.

So there are 16 quilts in this list already. I want to make a

couple of circular Christmas tree skirts and still the circular tablecloth. A quilted tablecloth for us.

The Twister Christmas Wreath is always a great gift for the holidays and I am still missing a few months for my fireplace quilts. I will not be idle again this year!

And I almost forgot about cousin Gayle's Jinny Beyer

quilt that used one of Jinny's borders. I am a bit

apprehensive about starting this - it is rated an intermediate

quilt and I am not sure I am at that level yet.

The quilt is mainly green with a bit of cranberry

and black. I have all the fabric finally.

This will be a stretch for me and we must

step out of our comfort zone from time

to time!  Completed and delivered!

Make a list and see how far your sewing adventures will take you this year.

You might be surprised at how far you get!

Crazy Magic Patch Block

As all quilters know,  that if you are saving scraps eventually they become unmanageable and need to be tamed.

Having no UFO's (unfinished projects) from the 2012 quilting year,

I was determined to conquer and beat down my scrap bin and upright box that were overflowing with beautiful pieces of previous quilts.

My guild gave out a pattern called Magic Square scrappy

quilts in my first year here in the USA and I have made quite a

few of these quilts.  They go together easily and quickly - my quilting bestie brought over her scraps also ( but that is another story)

and I started on mission.

I made 5 - yes 5 quilts from mostly my scraps with a

smattering of Clara's scraps thrown in.  It took approximately 3.5 weeks

from cutting the strips. to sewing, ironing, resewing, cutting, piecing, sandwiching with Elmer's Washable School glue, FMQ and

machine binding.  I used variegated thread to add another element of dimension to the quilts.

I will be giving Clara's and my guild two quilts -  as our donation for our charity quilts, 1 quilt to Clara for her use, one to my sister in Calgary for use at her family cabin in northern Saskatchewan, and I kept one for myself to remind me of all the other beautiful quilts I have made.

The two charity quilts were backed with some chintz-like cotton fabric that I had bought at the thrift store for $10.00 a bolt.  These will be the cozier and sturdier as the polyester batting I used turned out to be thinner than I anticipated.  No more Morning Glory Polyester batting from Walmart for me.  The heftier backing made be feel a lot better about the quilt.

I also zigzag pieced batting for my quilt. It will be interesting to see how it fairs as I had about 5 different battings in it - I figured it was for me so what the heck!  Clara's quilt has a bamboo batting that she supplied and the other one was a 80/20 Walmart batting I had used before.

 The above box is as tall as my elevated sewing center and about 2 feet square, below is a huge tote all of scraps from my quilts.  I have even mailed scraps away to total strangers that asked for some!

Below are the 5 different quilts and the last picture is a close up of the work.