Little Georgia Tote

I followed PlanetPatchWork on Twitter during Houston’s Quilt Market 2009.  They took pics of a lot of the new products and it was fun to see what they saw.  Lynn Holland wrote a review of the trip and said that Pat Sloan's Georgia bag class seemed to be most in demand on the “class wanted” board.

So, of course, I had to go to Pat Sloan’s website and see what Lynn was talking about.  I thought the tote was just the cutest thing and I had to order the kit.  This particular kit had all the items necessary to complete the tote.  Decorative threads were even included. The appliqués and rick-rack were already fused to the fabric. All the pieces were cut to size. And the bottom part was stitched to the front.  Most of the grunt work done – all I had to do was start the fun part. 

I had a good time choosing the various decorative stitches to hold those appliqués in place.  And the background was a nice place to practice some quilting motifs.

I haven’t yet decided what purpose this bag is going to serve, I just like the looks of it and all the bright colors used.  Right now it is hanging from a metal shower hook that is hooked under my ironing board.  What a convenient, out of the way place, to hang things.  And when I swivel around in my sewing chair, I can admire The Little Georgia Tote!

Cold Winter

Around this time of year, the temperature in my hometown is the envy of my northern friends.  They all wish they could be here to enjoy the balmy breezes of South Florida.  Well, this year my temps are on par with a northern winter!  37, 41, 44 – those are not numbers we usually see on our thermometers in South Florida.

It is supposed to get up into the 70’s tomorrow (Thursday).  Now, that’s more like it.  BUT, then another cold front is supposed to come through for the weekend.  Well, at least we don’t have to get out the snow shovel !

Memories

The above little Sun Bonnet Sue animation comes from the December 18th EQ blog.  Electric Quilt is offering it “free for the taking”.  I’m guessing that we all have used Sun Bonnet Sue in our quilts, at one time or another.

I even made a Sun Bonnet Sue cake for a granddaughter.

It was for Jessica’s 1st birthday and it was “her” cake – the one that was set on her high chair tray for the birthday girl to eat - or demolish!  Jessie did both!  That picture brings back good memories.  Jessie is 16 now.

Christmas is about memories.  So my wish for all is to go out and make a good Christmas Memory …

Desktop Wallpaper WindowsXP

I got bored with my desktop wallpaper – same old, same old.  So, I went to National Geographic and found they have some wonderful photos to download for wallpaper.  For free.

And, if you have trouble with WindowsXP and viewing the text below your desktop icons cuz the text is the wrong color to be easily seen – here’s the thing that worked for me – found the solution on a forum --

Right-click on your desktop
“Arrange icons by…”
”Lock web items on desktop”
It puts a colored box around the text and changes the default white text to black text.  Then if the colored box is not to your liking, just change it to any color you wish with the “Color” field which brings up the whole color wheel.  Choose a color to blend in with the wallpaper or contrast with it.  In any event, you will have black text instead of white text.

Have some fun with a whole new desktop!

Desserts, Appetizers and more

Saw a commercial the other day with all these wonderful desserts and appetizers.  There was a website listed - pillsburycrescents.com.  A whole website dedicated to Pillsbury crescent dough!  The recipes are super simple.  And from past experience with crescent dough, all are bound to turn out terrific.

The first recipe we are going to make is the Crescent Layer Bars, pictured above.  Since we’re not fans of the vanilla chips, we are going to substitute peanut butter chips.

Gonna be mighty good with a cup of coffee.

Quilts made from blocks from others

Reading Paula the quilter’s comment on my previous blog post:

That is such a wonderful idea to make a block like that. I suppose if one kept the background the same or similar a whole quilt would be the result. Our guild doesn't do blocks like yours does but cuts simple quilt kits for donations.

reminded me of a really neat setting for blocks that were contributed by many quilters.  If you will go to the Electric Quilt blog
http://www.doyoueq.com/blog/?m=200910 
and scroll down to Oct. 27 you will see the pic of a quilt that was made from blocks from quilters around the world.  Each one of the contributed blocks is certainly made of fabrics that are different from one the other, so there is no way that those blocks would have the same background.  Unless is was quite by accident.

The whole quilt comes together as a planned quilt because of that layout.  My eyes are drawn to the diagonal setting and then I see each individual contributed block.

My block is the first block in the 5th row.  Here’s a photo I took of it

The palm tree is thread-painted on top of appliquéd patches.  The sun is turned under appliqué, hand stitched.  Bottom row of 9patch background is paper-pieced.  9patch background is sewn together with bumpless intersections.

Perfect 1/4” seam

The secret to getting a “perfect” block is a “perfect” 1/4” seam – or so they say. Well, I found out it’s true!

The above block is the first time I ever made a block with rotary cut patches (other than a square) and templates and it turned out to be the perfect size! I have always shied away from rotary cut blocks and templates cuz when I sewed the patches together, the completed block was always a little bit off. This one measures 12-1/2” square – as it is supposed to.

It has 29 patches and a whole bunch of points. Lots of places to make a teensy error that multiplies into a big error as more seams are sewn.

I usually make my blocks divided into Paper Piecing parts, which I then sew together. The only time I use rotary cut is for squares. HSTs - I make by sewing 2 oversized squares together on the diagonal. Odd sized patches are usually in the Paper Piecing parts.

My secret for the perfect block -- I used a new foot on my Janome 6600 - http://tinyurl.com/ykvasw2
It’s a “Clear View Quilting Foot and Guide Set”, $16. It gives the most accurate 1/4” seam I’ve ever done on this machine or any other machine.

The block is one I saw in Quilters Newsletter Magazine, July/August 2005. Starry Star was designed by Judy Martin. The article had lots of “blocks within blocks” that Judy designed.

I belong to the Sunshine State Quilters Association, Inc. and also am the webmaster of their website. SSQA is a statewide guild for the state of Florida. SSQA was collecting blocks for Quilts of Valor and then distributed the blocks to member guilds who will be making them into quilts for Quilts of Valor to give to wounded servicemen and servicewomen.

Whenever I make donation blocks, I like to make unusual blocks, such as this one. It’s good for a personal challenge and gets the block out of my system. Cuz, when I finish one of these unusual blocks, I usually find out I don’t want to make more than one!