Thursday, January 11, 2024

Diagonal Seam Tape

I wouldn't sew a HST without Diagonal Seam Tape!  It's  a perfect solution for sewing straight diagonal seams without having to mark any lines! The special washi tape is strong, thin, and removes cleanly after sewing projects. I keep mine on for months at a time and it always removes cleanly.

Simply place the tape in front of the feed dogs with the red line in front of the needle as the stitch line. If you're making a single HST line up your square with the red line.

 The black lines on either side of the center line represent a perfect 1/4" seam allowance and you'll line up the corner of your block with the black line if you're making 2 HSTs out of your squares.

Thursday, January 4, 2024

Triangle Star

 

My latest quilt is called Triangle Stars.  It has 560 HSTs.  In August, my husband and I spent a week in Williamsburg, Virginia at a resort.  He spent some of his time riding his bike on the bike trails and I spent my time sewing the HSTs.  I put the HSTs together last month and now I'm making the applique blocks. There are appliques that go in each corner and then I can assemble the blocks!



Thursday, November 23, 2023

Blessings this Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for many things this Thanksgiving! Friends, Family and good health especially. And for 2 wonderful grandsons! Thank you, Lord, for the ability to work from home. In my quilting studio, on the hangers, you can see the quilts lined up, waiting for longarming.




My 3 yr old grandson is so proud. He put his coat on all by himself!

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Enjoying my new sewing machine!

 I finally have a few days free due to the Thanksgiving Holiday and I plan to use it sewing my next show quilt.  It calls for 580 half square triangles!  I especially love my new machine as I sew mainly in the evenings.  Notice the pull out light above the needle area?  Wow, this is a fabulous feature.  There is plenty of light to see what I'm doing. My machine is the Elna Excellence 780+.  I highly recommend this machine for quilting!

What machine are you sewing with?  


There are some other features on this machine I have to tell you about!  You can adjust the automatic settings to any stitch!  I like to stitch with a 2.8 stitch length so I change the length and now the automatic setting is what I want it to be when I select a stitch.  So handy not to adjust this every time I turn the machine on!

The machine has an early warning for when the bobbin is getting low.  And you can adjust this as well! They thought of most anything a quilter might want when they built this machine.

Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Sugar & Spice quilt pattern

 My next quilt project is starting this week.  I found the very last fat quarter pack of the fabric collection Promenade by Moda.  This collection is sold out everywhere but I found one website that still had the fat quarter pack!  


The pattern calls for the use of 2 rulers made by Studio 180 and I have those rulers.  One is the Tucker Trimmer I and the other is the Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star ruler.

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Ode to Sewing Machines #43

Many of you follow my "Ode to the Sewing Machine" posts.  We've all seen the ads on craigslist, ebay and elsewhere.  The clueless sellers give those of us who sew a belly laugh, or two!  Here's installment #43!





There's a sewing machine in there somewhere!  This was the only photo.


Sunday, October 29, 2023

Pocket Prayer Quilts

I made a few pocket prayer quilts this afternoon and thought I'd share the video tutorial I used to make them.  I hope you enjoy watching this tutorial and I hope you make a few for your friends!



I bought the cross charms and pins at Etsy online.  I used leftover charm squares to make the quilts.  I printed out the card on my computer!




Here are 4 of the 12 I've made so far, they are easy to sew!