A Piece of Kathy

I just added the final stitches to the binding of this lovely little quilt and had to take it outside for a quick photo shoot!

All these tiny half square triangles were left over this quilt top that I had pieced for Kathy O. of Stitch by Stitch last spring.  Kathy was kind enough to let me keep the leftovers.  :)

This quilt was a labor of love, as it took FOREVER to trim all those HST units.  I honestly lost vision for the quilt because all that trimming was so tedious.  But it was worth it, even though it was a lot of hours for such a small quilt (35 x 43").

If  you haven't tried the Bloc Loc Half Square Triangle Square Up Rulers, I would highly recommend them!  They make trimming HST units so much more accurate.

 My favorite thing about about this sweet quilt is that I feel like I have a piece of Kathy.  :)  I love collaborating with her on projects.  And, a piece too of Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew, the fabric designer - I love her work! 

The layout was inspired by this quilt by Rita Hodge of Red Pepper Quilts.  

(Maybe it was the ladder that drew me in initially?!)

When it came time for the quilting, I simply stitched 1/4' from each side of every seam with my walking foot.  Again, a little time consuming, but certainly not difficult.

(I do love my Bernina for walking foot quilting!)

I really like the design it creates on the back!

The backing fabric is from Allison's Wallflower collection that came out a few years ago.  I lucked out and bought a whole bolt of it on sale for dirt cheap last summer; I was thrilled, as it makes a great backing fabric and was perfect for this quilt.

I love the binding!  I initially had selected another fabric from my stash, but decided it wasn't quite right.  Oh course, I didn't come to that conclusion until after I had machine stitched it on!  :{     I was able to order a yard of the red print on line from an Etsy shop, the perfect solution.  So, I ripped out all my stitching, removed the binding and replaced it with this print.

Thanks, Kathy and Rita (and Allison too!), for inspiring this sweet quilt!

EPP Photo Shoot

Another Hexie Pin Cushion!

It's a beautiful spring day and I should be outside tackling my yard work to-do list that is a mile long... 

Instead, I couldn't resist stitching one more hexie pin cushion!

This time I added some hand quilting stitches using some #12 perle cotton and #12 Aurifil thread.  

Even though the Aurifil thread is more expensive, I discovered that I like stitching with it so much better than the perle cotton.

Here's a view of the back!

Of course, a sweet vintage button from my collection adds the final touch!

Note:  You can get 5 or 10 gram balls of Presencia perle cotton from Colonial Needle Co.  They have super fast shipping.  It's really worth investing in a color chart if you are looking for specific colors for your project.  

I ordered the Aurifil 12 weight spools from Hawthorne Threads.  Again, an Aurifil thread chart is worth its weight in gold, and the colors apply to all thread weights, including their 50 wt which I use for machine quilting.

Have a Happy Hexie Day!

English Paper Piecing Class at The Old Country Store!

I had so.much.fun teaching my very first class at The Old Country Store in Intercourse today!

The classroom setting is just lovely....

Six students came out for the class.  It was so enjoyable stitching and chatting together.

I learned so much from them - I only hope they learned just as much from me!

And, it was fun to see their creations!

Can't wait for my next class!

Channelling Kathy

Kathy O. of Stitch by Stitch does the most amazing swirls - I want to be her when I grow up!  But unfortunately, I haven't grown up yet.  So, in the meantime, I'm determined to learn how to do those swirls that she has perfected!

This was the perfect quilt stop to practice some swirls.  It was quick and easy to stitch, and since I hadn't invested a lot of time, I wasn't attached to it and wouldn't have been heart broken if the machine quilting wasn't up to my expectations.  Also, at 39x45" it was a manageable size - just big enough to do some serious practicing without overdoing it.  The busy design hides any imperfections, 

yet at the same time, the plain backing fabric gives me a chance to study my progress.

The solid stars gave me a blank canvas to do some stress-free walking foot quilting.  I love the contrast of the swirls in the background and the straight line quilting within the stars.  

I was stumped as to how to quilt this top.  Thank goodness I asked Kathy for some suggestions; I probably would have resorted to my basic stippling stitch had I not checked in with her.  I'm so glad I didn't take the easy way out!

Wish I could just channel Kathy!

Click here to view the fabulous swirls she stitched on my Suburbs quilt.

PS - Funny thing, now I am attached to this quilt!  :)

Wrapping Up Quilt Week

I love it when AQS Quilt wWek comes to Lancaster!  I look forward to it all year.  It means that in addition to the events surrounding the show, all fabric stores in the area run sales.  Yay for me! 

I started off at The Lancaster Quilt Show at the Continental Inn on Wednesday.  Although the venue isn't that spectacular, the vendors make up for it. There I purchased an assortment of 30's fat quarters to add to my collection, a few low volume FQ's, a base for my automatic thread cutter, a Clover Tailor's Awl, a Gyspsy Cutting Gizmo, and visited my favorite vendor by far, Ameila's Garden.

On Thursday I headed to the Marriott for the AQS show.  That venue is definitely worth visiting!! 

 I played with the Bernina sit down long arm; it's an impressive machine, but it's way out of my price range and space options for the time being.  So, instead, I bought some thread at the Superior Threads booth for English Paper Piecing, and picked up a set of Hobb's batting samples.  :)

Saturday was Sarah Fielke's Trunk Show at the Eden.  

Very inspiring....

Then, since I ran out of time last week for fabric shopping, I finally made it to Good's and Mook's today.  You can't beat their sale prices - $3.19 and $3.99 per yd!  I found some goodies for my stash.  :)

That's it for Quilt Week this year!