Short break this weekend

I had some fun over the weekend sewing a new project.  I bought an embroidery machine a few months ago (20 yr old Baby Lock Ellageo) and stitched up some quilt blocks to make a pillow.  The teacup designs were on an embroidery design card that came with the machine so I decided on a tea cup theme.  Front and Back photos are below!

I have already gifted it to a friend of mine.

A useful tool

 

Today I'd like to share a tip that has helped me plan out what I want to stitch on a quilt when it's ruler work or freehand.  I bought a piece of plexiglass from the hardware store and had my husband cut it to the size I wanted.  I put black electricians tape around the edge so I could see it easily.  When I want to test out a design idea I use this!  I don't remember when I learned this tip, but it's not original to me.  

Today I'm working on my Circa 1880 nine patch quilt and I'm trying out a border design that uses a curve ruler that I turn different directions.

After deciding on the design above, I marked my quilt border with the curves and I'm satisfied with the design!

I plan on entering my quilt in a quilt show in October so I need to get busy!

Pumpkin Wallhanging Tutorial

 Lisa E. shared a pumpkin wall hanging she created on one of the facebook groups I am on and I was inspired to make one like it only smaller.  Here is a tutorial on how to make a 7"x22" wallhanging!  Find a FREE pdf download at the end of this tutorial.

Material list:

5 orange fat quarters
1/2 yard of white background
brown scraps for the stems
green scraps for the leaves

Directions:

1. Cut 1-1/2" strips from each of the orange fat quarters.  Sew them together lengthwise using 1/4" seams. Press the seams open.  Cut the strip set into one 7-1/2" piece, one 5-1/2" piece and one 3-1/2" inch piece.
   
   
   
2. Cut four 1-1/2" WOF strips from the white background fabric.  From one of the strips cut a 14" piece and remove 1/2" lengthwise from the strip.  Then sub-cut the remaining 1" strip into twelve 1" squares.
   
   
   

Good thought for the day

 

A Challenging BOM

 I'm in month 3 of the ForeverMore Block of the Month and have finished the toughest block yet.  The quilt is made up of many different blocks, each using tiny pieces of fabric.  This block I'm most proud of though.  All the points match!

ForeverMore BOM has begun

I'm happy to say Month 1 of the ForeverMore Block of the Month is finished!  I'm having a great time sewing tiny blocks again! There were 4 of those in month 1.

Update July 9th:   Month 2 is finished as well!

Happy 4th of July

 

5 QOV tops to finish by Wednesday evening

 I thought I'd update my blog with the task for this week.  I have 5 Quilt of Valor tops to work on before our QOV group meets on Thursday morning.  Here's a photo of the one on my frame this afternoon.  I'm using a pantograph called Star Streamers on each of the tops.