Star Block wall hanging

 I have had fun creating a new quilt this week!  I bought Electric Quilt 8 earlier this month and started working on a quilt right away.  I saw a quilt hanging in a quilt shop and I tried to buy the pattern for it only to find out it wasn't being published any longer.  So I set about making one of my own.  This is the result!  

Click here to download a copy of the pattern!  It's a PDF file, a step by step tutorial and it is recommended for intermediate quilters.  The letter Q would be a bit daunting for a beginning quilter.  If you are a confident beginner I say "Go For It!"

Star QUILT Wall Hanging
by Christine Chamberlain

I do!

 

Electric Quilt 8

I purchased EQ8 a week ago and wow, does this program do a lot for relatively little money.  I've been using tutorials on their EQ blog, which has many, many lessons and tutorials!  You can use this program to make t-shirt quilts which have different sized blocks depending on the t-shirts that are used.  I used this tutorial to make my first quilt, a small wall hanging.  The program gives me printouts of the yardage and rotary cutting instructions, and I use those to then write the pattern.  The process to write the pattern takes a lot of time and thought but it is so much fun!

The wall hanging will be 17"x 23" when finished.

I finished the quilt in EQ8 and went right to the fabric shop to buy fabrics to make the quilt!  I'm busy writing the pattern this week.  As soon as I make the quilt, testing the instructions I've written I plan on making the pattern a pdf file and will post it here on my blog as a free download.  

Update April 24:  I have finished making the Star Block!  It measures 15-1/2" x 15-1/2".

Update April 25:  I have assembled my wall hanging!  I woke up at 1:30AM thinking about this wall hanging and was writing the pattern in my head.  I decided to get up and work on it since I couldn't go back to sleep anyway.  The pattern is written, all I need to add is a photo of the finished wall hanging. I need to longarm and bind it now.

Update April 26:  I've started longarming the wall hanging, here's a closeup of the quilting on the block...

Grateful quilt pattern

 This quilt is called Grateful.  I fell in love with it the minute I saw it.  I began collecting the fabrics for it a couple months ago. I plan on making it scrappy, but will use the same coloring as the pattern photo.

I started cutting the fabrics a couple days ago and I plan on cutting as I go along.  I am sewing the pinwheel blocks first and I have half of them done already!  Click on the photo and you'll see how scrappy the blocks are.

I found the pattern book at this website:  

https://www.cottagelanequilts.com/shop/p/grateful-book

A Great Devotional!

 This is a devotional from the Proverbs 31 website, written by Meghan Mellinger, it was so good I had to post it here!

“I am tired of being tired.”

The words spilled out of my mouth like the tears from my eyes. Here I was, yet again, in what had become my default state: weary and worn.

Something had to change.

Travel sewing machine

 I needed a new travel machine and chose the Elna Experience 570. It only weighs 14 lbs. I like to do invisible applique and needed a machine that lets me narrow down the width of the applique stitch to barely there. This machine does beautiful invisible applique stitches! And there are 8 different applique stitches to choose from. In total, there are 200 stitches available on the 570.

The machine is a 7mm and this was fine for me since I mainly use a machine for quilting. I didn't need a wider stitch with my travel machine, and if I ever did need a wider stitch I can just use my regular machine. The screen also indicates exactly what foot you should be using with whatever stitch you’ve chosen to use, making sure you don’t accidentally break a needle on the wrong foot!

The light on the machine is bright but I'll add a table lamp next to me in the evening when I sew to help make it brighter.

I chose this machine because I'm spoiled by my main machine and need to have an automatic thread cutter. That feature is great! There are plenty of additional feet but it does not come with a walking foot, I will need to buy one if I decide I need one. I did buy a straight stitch needle plate to go with it, since I do a lot of piecing tiny fabric pieces.

On the side of the machine, you’ll find pull out stitch guides, too, making it easy to know which stitch you want to select.

I took the machine to a quilting retreat and the machine performed beautifully! I'll use this for years to come, I'm pleased I bought this one.

Dritz Petite Press Mini Iron

I bought this little iron about 18 yrs ago and it's been a wonderful item to have next to my sewing machine. I use it when I'm piecing quilt blocks and it has had a tremendous amount of work over the years. I have a tiny pressing board next to it and it is so easy to iron seams, I don't have to get up and down, up and down, going to my big ironing board.

It has 4 heat settings on it for different weights of fabric, but since I use quilting cotton I always have it set to the high setting. The iron covers 2-1/2", which is perfect for ironing a jelly roll seam, or 2 halves of a charm square seam. It has a little beep when the iron is ready plus the red flashing light turns solid. There is an attached stand that keeps it from touching the table, it can be adjusted as well. The angle of the heating iron can be adjusted as well, very handy! I had the Clover mini-iron at one time but I bought this one because the iron is about twice the size, and is much better, in my opinion.

Mine has had much use! It had a white cushion where you can place your finger while pressing but mine disintegrated a few years ago! It's the only reason I'm thinking of retiring this one!

I bought a 2nd one 2 years ago but haven't opened the package yet because this one just keeps on working! 

Fat Quarter Storage

My husband built this for me, isn't he wonderful?  It is modeled after the letter organizers you used to see in the school office, the place where teachers would gather their mail.  Only turned on end instead of the usual way.  I have it in the corner of my longarm quilting studio.

On the wall to the left is a tattered and worn quilt made for me by my great grandmother when I was born.  It was used by my mother for all 4 of us kids.

New video from Missouri Star

 This is a wonderful new product for quilting!

Table runners

 I've finished 2 table runners and they were a breeze to make.  The pattern is from Missouri Star Quilt Company called Friendship Chain.  The shorter one is for my sister.  She asked for a table runner with a sunflower theme and I found the perfect fabrics for it!  The other one is for my dining room table.