Got it done!

Remember this UFO? Using some of my favorite Mary Engelbreit fabrics, and a block from the Farm Girl Vintage book:

Here it is, all quilted and bound:

(I do love me a polka dot binding!) I love the crinkly look of the runner, too, after washing it!

I went WAY outside my comfort zone here, with new free motion quilting attempts. New to me, at any rate! I was encouraged by our sweet friend, QuiltShopGal, to use a mandala motif in the center blocks. 
That blew me away at first . . . I looked up the term and was seeing all kinds of Super. Duper. Intricate. Stuff.
But then she assured me that a very simple design could still be called a mandala, and would fill those blocks nicely. 
So, with fear and trepidation, and knees knocking in my knickers (like that alliteration?), I tried it out. Here is one of the blocks, seen from the front. 

And here is one, seen from the back of the runner:

I mucked about with the contrast on this one, so you could see one of my feathers . . . kinda proud of how those turned out!

Here is a link to a video that helped me with the feathers. Karen Miller explains and demonstrates the "bump back" feathers. Thanks, Karen!

Now it's time for a Kale and Banana smoothie and I'll sit back and admire my new runner!

Love,

Working on a UFO

Remember these fun "Farm Girl Vintage" blocks from a few months ago? 

I switched out the fabrics in the outer squares, because I wanted to use that green for the setting triangles. A little frogging (you know the seam ripper drill, right? Rip-it, rip-it!) and I then substituted either the soft blue or the cheerful red in those corners.

I put them together into a runner for my kitchen table -- now they look like this:

Here's a close up of one of the blue-square blocks: 

And here is the whole runner, rescued from the UFO pile:

Oops, there are those slippers again. Could have cropped them out, I guess, but we're keeping it real here. (Grin) Insomniacs make great quilters, right?

I'm thinking about some in-the-ditch and small motif quilting inside the blocks -- I'm wondering if I have the moxie to quilt some (gasp) feathers in those nice large green triangles! Y'all wish me luck there!

Here is a peek at the ME pieced backing. Love working with Mary Engelbreit fabrics; they make me feel more cheerful just playing with them.

Hope you are finding time to sew, too!

Love,

Fruitful Hands finish! and news of a giveaway!

Warning!

This is a photo-heavy post! Lots of pictures (but I can't guarantee that they are all in focus. LOL)

I finally was able to finish my Fruitful Hands tablerunner, and I want to show it to you!

I've shown you this fabulous line of fabric from my favorite designer, Jacquelynne Steves. (By the way, she has another new line coming out as we speak, and there is a contest, too! More about that later, OK?)

I showed you in earlier posts that I was making churn dash blocks, and putting them together with the blocks from her lovely panel . . .

This is how I played with them -- part of the design process here, complete with gears turning and smoke coming from my ears. Oh, you want a picture of that? Not on your life. Padsworth and DragonDrop know better than that.
I wanted to do something different, so I played with putting the blocks "on point."

Aren't those fruits and veggies gorgeous? I mean, I love fruits and veggies anyway . . . I'm getting hungry now. My mom really never had to tell me to "eat every carrot and pea on your plate." Oops, that didn't come out quite right. You didn't get it? Just say it out loud once or twice....it'll hit you in a minute.  (Grin)

I bet that some of you are thinking that I will place setting triangles in between those churn dash blocks, aren't you? Naaaah! That's too predictable!

Here is what I did:

After I joined all the blocks together, I outline quilted the edibles, and then did a freehand doodle in each corner.

Then I did some very small, tight meandering in the backgrounds of the churn dash blocks. My thinking here was that I really wanted the focus fabric on each of them to "pop" and look great.
How do you think that turned out?

Now, here comes the fun part. Since I opted to leave out the setting triangles, I have "inside" and "outside" corners to bind . . .

Remember the binding I made? Well, here is the tutorial that helped me apply it! Heather Mulder Peterson is another of the talented Henry Glass designers, as is Jacquelynne, and she has a seriously cute little guy that helps her with her work!

Her tutorial was super! I only had to get out my friendly seam ripper one time, and I didn't fuss at all. In fact, Moses the Studio Cat slept peacefully all the way through . . . so you know it must have gone pretty well!

And here are my results:

Um, yeah. Not the best shot. Try this close up?

Sweet, huh? I thought so! Try this next one on for size . . .

Not sure why that edge looks wonky . . . maybe because it's an indoor shot, and the runner is hanging on a ladder!

And one last shot in the sunshine:

I think I got a little too happy with the sunshine, and over-exposed it, but at least you can see most of it . . .

Now, I mentioned a new line of fabric from Jacquelynne way up there before this cavalcade of photos started, so let me fill you in on that!

(Imagine a trumpet fanfare here) It's a quilt contest! And a new line of fabric called Happy Town! And you can win $500! And get your quilt displayed at Market! AND help a fantastic kids' charity, too!

Talk about a WIN-WIN-WIN situation, that is one for sure!
Check out this quick summary of the contest, at this linkie! 

The rules and the submission form are there, and you can get even more information on The Noble Wife blog....and that is where the giveaway is taking place. She has some bodacious prizes up for grabs, and you won't want to miss it . . . Hop over there and check it out --- you may be a winner!
(It won't ensure that you win, but tell her that Snoodles and Padsworth sent ya!)

Love,

Binding savvy

We are known here at Lilypadquilting for our honesty . . . we've shown you before that Snoodles, Padsworth and DragonDrop make mistakes and sometimes have epic fails.

Now, in return, tell me --- has this ever happened to you?

You know the drill.

You cut your strips. You place them at 90 degree angles to each other, right sides together. You sew across the corner . . . the graphic is all over the interwebs:

(That one is from Janet Wickell, at About Quilting)

But doesn't it frustrate you sometimes when the result is not quite as precise as "they" say it should be?

Well, it frustrated me. In fact, I've been known to throw things when it didn't turn out like I wanted it to. (Grin)

So, I went on a search and found this kind lady's video, and took her advice. So, if you would like to know how to get this kind of results:

instead of this kind:

then listen up!!

The first thing you need to do is lay your strips down along lines on your cutting mat, right sides together. See?

Then take your ruler and mark a line for stitching, on the diagonal, like so:

Next, without allowing the fabrics to move around a lot, pin so that they will remain still and submit to being stitched. Sometimes you have to threaten them, but other times they are quite cooperative.

Once you have stitched, you can trim to a quarter inch seam, and press open. 

Then I pressed the binding in half, and I'm ready to bind my project!

Ahhhh, I love it when a plan comes together! 

I hope to show you my finish soon --- not in time for the Lovely Year of Finishes party, but hey! Better late than never!


I'm linking up today with the lovely Katherine at Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop! (And her equally lovely co-host, Karren, at OhMyHeartsie!)


Love,

As promised!

Imagine my surprise when I came back to my sewing area and found Padsworth tucking DragonDrop in for a nap . . .

 
(Grin) That's my finished runner --- as promised, I'll show it to you now!

Oh, and in the interest of true transparency and accountability (and just letting you know that is is perfectly OK to make mistakes . . . oh, you knew that already?) here is what happened yesterday. 

This is what we would like to see, no? 
Yes.

 
Remember the "need for speed" that I mentioned? Well, this is what happens when you are focusing more on the Nutcracker Suite music that is playing, than on the tension of your thread. 

Sigh. Hie thee hither, my trusty seam ripper. Dost thou see the job thee must do?

After that, we ended up with this:

And this:

So, as they say, all's well that ends well. 

I wanted to show you the whole thing, but the wind started up when I got outside (kind of a gray day, too) but I think you can see most of it:

Now, it's off to create with some scrumptious Jacquelynne Steves fabrics . . . her Fruitful Hands line! I'm seriously in love with these gorgeous fabrics.  Click on those linkies to see a sampling!

See you soon!

Love,

 

Sewing, sewing, sewing . . .

Imagine that title sung to the tune of the Rawhide television show song; you know, "Rolling, rolling, rolling, keep those doggies rolling...."
You don't remember? Aww, take a peek, and leave it playing while you read!  (Whispering) Those of you that are checking blogs at work can either turn it way down low or leave it up --- you might get the beady eyes of your manager fixed upon you, or you might start an office sing-along . . . then you'll be known as the person that they simply MUST invite to all the parties, because you are so much fun......maybe you'd better play it at your own risk. I assume no liability here. (Wink)



Well, after a short delay to have some blog-hopping fun, I'm ready to show you my table runner -- almost finished!

But first, let me show you how I made it!

This is what I showed you before . . . lovely strips of fabric. For those of you who are going to ask, I'll beat you to the punch and tell you that I cut them 1.5 inches wide!

This is what I did with those:

Then I chopped 'em up!

And then I sewed 'em back together!  That's what we quilters do, right? Take perfectly good fabric, cut it up and then sew it back together! (Grin)
Here's an example of what I had then:

Aren't they cute? Now, what is in my devious little mind? How am I going to arrange these?

Hmmm . . .

Sorry about the wonky edge, there. Pay no attention . . . just like the wonderful wizard behind the curtain, pay no attention and everything will turn out OK in the end. (Don'tcha love obscure movie references?)

Something is amiss here, though. In addition to the wonkiness.
I'm going for "Scrappy."
I think instead I'm getting "Busy."
What to do?
Put in some blocks of solids, so the eye has a place to stop and rest and enjoy the pretty fabric.

Now we're getting somewhere!
Houston, we now have "Controlled Scrappy."

Then I placed some bars of fabric in between the scrappy sections, and got this:

The Force is with me, now. I'm liking how this looks!

It's my very own design. My own. My preciousssssss!

Here's the whole runner, sandwiched and ready to quilt:

I feel the need - the need for speed! I'm ready to quilt this puppy!

Next time we meet, I'll show you the finish!

Love,