Super Mail..........

I can't believe that I have received Victoria's package already. According to the envelope it was posted on the 22nd Oct in New York and here it is in my hand on the 29th. According to Sue in our local post office it arrived there on Tuesday which was the 27th!! Five days from New York to Ballarat - amazing!!

So I have Novembers block in late October and should be able to send it back to Victoria next week and I'm ahead of the game......how good is that? I just have to discipline myself to make a wonky block, so much fun. Today the sun is shining and it's HOT finally, loving it.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Lizzie

XXX

Here they are...

My 3 blocks for Shelly's October block and my September $5 quilt block that is a tad late.Shelly your block will go out Friday hopefully, if I can finish my 25 disappearing nine patches for Jane's swap. That way I only have to make one trip to the post office.

Italian tiles for Shelly....Finally!

My blocks are going out today Shelly. I hope they are ok with you. I enjoyed doing this block, it was lots of fun, sorry it took me so long to get them off to you, Elaine

3rd time is always the charm!

Okay, so do I admit this is the third time I tried to do this tile? I definitely was challenged, but I think I finally got it. At least, close enought to send off. You can see the progress if you look really closely at the blocks, I did get better and better at it. I'm not sure I'd try this again soon, working with the bias edges was something that I don't quite have under control yet, but I'm glad I got to try it.

Opinions Needed

Hi Guys,

Fall is finally here in Georgia. The temperature right now is 65 and I have my sweatpants and sweatshirt on. No, sewing so far this morning just blog reading and Christmas gift idea hunting. I plan to get so much done this weekend and next weekend I can't wait.

I wanted to ask you though what you are making for your family and friends this Christmas season (if you celebrate) especially the grown men. Since the economy's downturn a couple years ago this year has been the hardest for us, no more juicy steak dinners each weekend :(, so I am trying to make gifts that will be useful. I have relatives who I feel expect gifts from us and as my husband say that is the way they do things. I have suggested adopting a family instead of giving gifts to each other or volunteering at the local Salvation Army but that is not their cup of tea. So I need some ideas of what to make my adult family members who don't like country items. I have thought about doing a table runner, place mats, pot holders and dish towel and have it all matching but if I give that to a couple I feel like that is more for the female and the man isn't getting anything. Am I worrying to much what they think?? So what are you making?

Oh, for my niece and nephew I am making a Lap Desk, Crayon Roll, and hopefully a bag for it all to fit in with a coloring book or good craft paper. They will be getting the same thing so I hope that is fine. Would you kids mind getting the same thing just different fabric design?

Thanks for the Feedback,
Angie

P.S. This is formatted like an email because I should have sent it out that way but don't have every one's addresses. Also, I have NO and I mean N O friends that know how to operate a sewing machine so thanks for the friendship.

Picket fence ideas

Hello, all!  I hope everyone is having fun with this!  I've gotten all of my blocks(almost--but I know where she lives!)  and have been thinking about the layout.  Here are some ideas and I would LOVE some feedback!

So, this one wouldn't use any sashing.  I would do a picket fence border on one side and a regular border around the other three sides.  I think I like this one the best, but I want this to be big enough for a bed quilt, so it would probably need another border on the outside of this one, too.

Now this one is sashed and the picket fences are the sashing.  It think it might be a little too cutesy for me, but it still might work.  This one would need a border or two around it as well.  Or I could make 8 more blocks which defeats the purpose of this entire exercise!

So here's what I'm thinking for the back.  Victoria made me 2 blocks, so I have an extra to use on the back.  I thought I'd use it to build another house.  With a picket fence of course.  Any thoughts? 

Would you use white(which is bound to get really dirty between the dogs that sneak on the beds and the kid that has dirt coming out of his pores!) or a white 30s repro print?  I had planned on only using the prints and could probably find one that had a simple enough design that the fence would still shine through, but now I'm wondering.

And I saw this quilting yesterday which I though might be pretty fun for this project!

Any hoo--yesterday when I was "working,"  I wanted some graph paper to play with this and had none, so I went on-line to find some.  I found an awesome site that has squares, hexagons, rectangles, triangles, and circles.  I started planning many many quilts!  You should check it out--it'll give you lots of ideas!

Thanks for any feedback you've got!

Novemeber packets

November Blocks for Victoria

Hi Everyone!~ I'm so excited!
Packets of my fabric are being mailed thursday a.m.
Here's whats inside...

Each person will receive a packet of strips + one little brown shape,to make wonky log cabins.
(if you don't know what that is,
just start sewing strips around the outside of the middle block and keep going...)

Please use the light pre cut brown square-ish shape enclosed to start your large block.

do not square them off. keep it wonky.

Work round and round until you have no more fabric that will make it around the block.

When you have done so,and your left with little short pieces
that don't fit all around the big block,
begin a separate one out of the scraps, like the mini one to the right of the big block above.

any scrap can start the mini one...

GOAL: Please attempt to use ALL the fabric.
(On mine, i used everything i could except for that last scrap of yellow below the mini one.)

Please send all scraps back to me along with the two blocks.

Every last bit is going into this quilt.

Please do NOT ADD ANY FABRICS. Use ONLY what I have enclosed.

You do not need to square off the block and don't worry about the finished size, as all will be different with all the different size strips I cut randomly...

Thanks ladies! It's been fun so far!

~Victoria

Halloween, take 2

We just got back from Providence where we spent parents' weekend with Sarah, the senior, and this picture was waiting in my email when we got home. I'm sure more will follow.....

how she takes a picture of herself is beyond me since I don't think she has a full length mirror.....

the wonders of science?

Giveaway at my house

Hi ladies, come on by and answer my question on, "what to do with my magazine stash", for your chance to win. I am threatening sending magazines off to the winner, lol. Thanks, Elaine

giveaway

Hi Ladies,

I just wanted to drop you all a note to let you know I have officially started my own blog. I thought I would start the ball rolling with a giveaway, so if you would like to enter, please stop by and say hello!

http://cutsewironrepeat.blogspot.com/



Thanks!

Jenny

Halloween time out

Hi! someone asked for the picture of Lilli's costume, so here it is; also on the blog you can link to from here....

happy sewing all, it looks like we are traveling into really crappy weather for the weekend-I just can't wait to sit out at a football game in the rain.....

Mailing update

Just wanted to update everyone, I HAVE MAILED!!!

Tara and Shelly, your blocks are on their way. Enjoy!

Vivian

October blocks

Here are the three block for Shelly. I used a mustardy yellow which I didn't end up loving, but hopefully it will look good in a scrappy quilt! These were a lot of fun, I cut my squares larger to give me more room to cut them down, but 9 1/2" squares(the size of my square ruler) were too large and I ended up with a bit of waste.


And here are(most) of the blocks I've received so far. I think I've gotten one or two more since I took this picture last week(before the 4 inches of snow!). I think the rest are on their way, so I'll get the top sewn as soon as they get here and post pictures of it then! Still undecided on sashing. Any opinions?

Sorry for the quality of photos--that's what happens when you have a crappy photographer using a crappy camera!

Little House for Tara

The little house was fun to make! The colors are really sweet together.

Shelly's Tiles

Here are my tiles for Shelly's scrappy quilt. I hope you like them Shelly...they were mailed out this morning!
Jenny

French German Tiles :-)

My first try! It was so fun.
I used some scraps of random colors just to practice and I realize I will need a few tools so that my squares are square, my triangles triangular...
But it was a great new learning experience for me. Makes me realize all you can do when you start knowing what you are doing ;-)
So they are Katywampus but I will get the right tools and do better on the real deal...

Membership card

LOVE IT!!!!!

How clever, thank you!

September and October blocks

I got a late start due to the mail but I'm finished Tara's september block! I enjoyed building my little house. I've always wanted a house with a red door. Some day...

And I've started the October blocks. And here's where I have a question. Please check my photo. I've sewn one triangle to the leg of the X and when I press it looks like the triangle is way too small. Is that how it's supposed to look?

Vivian

Shelly's Tiles on the way...............

I can't believe that I've finished this month's block and it's only the 5th, woo hoo. Hope the colours are OK Shelly.

Be interesting to see how many different hues of the same colours that your quilt will have, should look great finished. Can't wait for February, that's my month!!

Lizzie

Tara's House & Shelly's Italian Tile

Tara, I hope you like the addition to your neighborhood! I made your block a little larger than 16" so you could trim it down perfectly when you get them all together.

I ended up making these blocks twice. I didn't like the way they turned out the first time, so I cut the initial squares larger, followed the exact directions from then on, and trimmed them down to exactly 6.5 inches. Both packages will be in the mail tomorrow!

Hello!

Hello ladies!

I'd like to finally introduce myself. I haven't been anti-social, I've just been out of town, and really busy when I have been in town. I have been making quilts for almost 25 years. None of my ancestors that I know of has ever made a quilt, but I can remember being a little girl and wanting to make one. The funny thing about that is, so has my sister. When I became pregnant with my first child, (I have five), I made my first quilt. I did let him use it, and when he threw up on it the first time, that was the last time he saw it! I still have it in my cedar chest. I love all kinds of quilts, but I am particularly drawn to the most simple, or traditional ones. I do like to do a lot of improvisional work also. I am lucky enough to have a job that I love. I've been doing it for ten years now. I have two longarm machines, and they keep me pretty busy. I am excited to get to know all of you, and I anticipate having a lot of fun with this group.

Linda

italian tile

I had too.
I got excited by Shelly's color combo, as I had this red/yellow/blue Anna griffin fabric
The Aurora Collection, fabric and I was dying to cut into it...
it sort of screamed Italian Renaissance to me..
So, Shelly, they are done and on their way to you.
Have fun putting this one together!
;-)

Italian tile for October

Hello Ladies, October is my month and I have chosen Italian tile blocks. I'm doing my blocks a little different than Tara. I want a very scrappy quilt so I will NOT be sending y'all fabric. Instead, I want y'all to use fabric from your stash. First thing is you will need an 8 inch square of a red fabric, 8 in square of blue and an 8 in square of yellow. (The fabric can have other colors in it but NO white, please.)
1. Stack your blocks one on top of the other and draw a line (with a pencil on the back of one block) form corner to corner so you have a big X on the back of your block.
2. Measure 7/8" from each side of this drawn line and cut. (You should have 4 cuts.)
3. Shuffle the blocks and put them back together anyway you like.
4. There is alot of bias in these blocks so treat them with a little TLC. You can also use spray starch on the fabric before you cut.
5. Finger press the outside units (triangle units) to the triangles and the middle unit to the middle square. 6. Blocks should measure 6 1/2 in (unfinished)once they are trimmed.
If you have any questions just email me.

* Helpful tips. Use a sharp or brand new needle. And when piecing the units with the triangles, sew with the triangles on the bottom.