Saturday Stash: A Road Trip and What I Learned

Last weekend I went on another road trip.  Thursday and Friday I attended the Home Machine Quilting Show in Salt Lake City.  I learned as much from visiting with the vendors as I did in the class I took from Dustin Farrell.  Watching the demos of all the new long-arm rulers and templates made me eager to get home to Meggie.

I took the "long way" to Salt Lake, via Colorado's Western Slope.  It really only takes about an hour longer, but somehow it seems  like it takes forever!  Worth the extra time, though:  not only did I get to have lunch with my cousin, I got to visit a wonderful quilt shop in Grand Junction.

Quilters' Corner sports an excellent collection of batiks, along with plenty of reproduction fabrics and quite a few "modern" fabrics.  I will definitely return in August when Colorado Quilt Council meets in Grand Junction.

Here is the first day's stash:

 

That yellow in the upper corner is one of Moda's new Bella Solids, Citrine.

I bought this embroidered block from a company that specializes in patriotic fabrics and images.  The husband of one of my nieces serves on the USS Nebraska submarine.  This might not be the right class of sub, but it's the only submarine fabric I've found:

One  vendor was demonstrating this cool tool to make loading your quilts on the long-arm easier.  Instead of pinning the quilt, quilt back, and batting to the leaders, you slide these tubes into a channel on the leaders and snap the quilt onto the plastic tube.  Can't wait to try these -- loading the quilt onto the machine is my least-favorite part of long-arming!

Here is some red-white-and-blue half-yard pieces I got to make a Quilt of Valor quilt using the "Take 5" method:

I snuck out of the conference Thursday afternoon to visit my favorite Salt Lake area shop, Quilter's Haven in Bountiful.  Quilter's Haven is the one of the only shops I've ever found that carries a good selection of Anthropology fabric.  Plus they were having a Mother's Day sale, 20% off everything!

It's important to have a good stash of Schnibbles and charm packs, just in case one of these is selected for the next "Another Year of Schnibbles" pattern!

Today's post is only the Salt Lake City portion of my Road Trip.  And what I learned?

Keep the receipts with the purchases, so when you blog about your road trip, you'll know where stuff was purchased!



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Tuesday Tutorial: Inside Corners

Remember this from "Sunday is for Scraps?"

And this?

They became this:

It's the A la Mode Placemat Table Topper -- placemats and table topper in one.  The designer is Kathy Heaverlo of Birch Bay Washington.  I found Kathy's clever item on Craftsy.com by searching for "placemats" and "charm squares."  It takes only 45 charm squares plus some fabric for backing, binding and borders.

Although I've been quilting for nearly 40 years, I never had to miter an inside corner before I made this project.  Turns out, it's not so hard -- like most things -- once you know how.

Here's a tutorial for mitering inside corners.

1.  First, trim the batting and backing even with the quilt top.

2.  Next, top stitch inside the quarter inch seam line.

3.  Then trim only the batting and backing at an angle to the corner.

4.  Nip the corner to within 1/8 inch of the top stitching.

5.  On the straight side of the quilt, attach the binding as you normally would. When you approach the corner, pull the quilt that extends to the right-hand side down toward yourself so the seam is straight and parallel to the raw edge of the binding.

6.  Fold the extra fabric up and to your left so it doesn't make a tuck in the seam.

7.  When it's sewn, the seam will look like this.  Now you can trim the seam allowance through all layers at an angle to the corner.

8.  By pulling the two sides toward each other, a miter will naturally form in the binding.  You may have to "urge" it with your fingernail to fold neatly.

Because this is a placemat and will probably be washed often, I machine-stitched the binding from the right side using Superior Threads' Mono Poly as the top thread and regular cotton in the bobbin.

You can see in this photo that practice will make the corners neater.

But Chutney approves!

From the desk of your

Another Mystery Monday

 I got behind on my Mystery BOM while I was traveling.  And I'll miss the next step -- while traveling!

Here is the step I missed last month.  Mary, you were right -- that weird piecing resulted in Flying Geese.  I trimmed mine up using Eleanor Burns' Small Flying Geese Ruler.

This strange piece uses Diagonal Corners in two colors.  These must be sashing: 

But it's a Mystery!

Have you ever tried to bind a quilt that has both "inside" and "outside" corners?  Tune in tomorrow for Tuesday's Tutorial on binding difficulties.


From the desk of your

Sunday is for Scraps (and hostess gifts!)

On my trip to Idaho, I'll be visiting one of my nieces.  I realized this morning, I don't have a hostess gift for her!

Lucky for me, I have a huge collection of 5" squares, and a new pattern for a combination table-topper/placemats.

The design is based on the "disappearing 9-patch", aka "split 9-patch."  A disappearing 9-patch starts with -- surprise! -- a simple 9-patch block:

Next, slice the block through the center both horizontally and vertically.  Then turn each of the resulting four pieces one-quarter turn and reassemble the block:

I'll show you the assembly of the table-topper for Works in Progress Wednesday. 






From the desk of your

Saturday Stash -- I Won!

 My friend Deb says I win everything.  Well, maybe not everything -- but I won this:

The Cocoon Fat Quarter Bundle from Maureen Cracknell Handmade's giveaway!  I even won the colorway I like best, "Moth."

Which is actually kind of funny, because Colorado has been inundated with an unusually high number of Miller Moths this year.  Miller Moths are harmless, but annoying.  I've been awakened several night lately by the sound of them bouncing against the window, attracted by the light of the moon!

Even so, isn't this fabric stunning?  The giveaway was sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop, where I bought extra yardage of the Coral Liv  for the border of whatever I decide to make with this wonderful collection.

I interrupted packing for my trip to the Home Machine Quilting Show to play with my prize, selecting some of Robert Kaufman's Quilters Linens to go with.

I purchased the Quilters Linen from my favorite etsy shop, Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics.

The khaki fabric in the back is Moda Bella Solids, the color is Cocoa.   I can't remember where I bought it -- on sale, though!

Any ideas what I should make with these lovelies?  I'm thinking maybe the Brioche and Baguette pattern from Modern Quilt Relish, it would really show off the large print.

Thank you, Maureen and Fat Quarter Shop!






From the desk of your

It's Finished Friday

I quilted two quilts on my Mega Quilter this week.

The first one is the Brown Bag Surprise Quilt from Sunday at Ruth's Stitchery:

 The dark color is purple, it doesn't show up very well in my photo.

I used an overall meander stitch with a new polyester-wrapped poly thread, "Omni" that I bought from  Superior Threads at the Cincinnati Quilt Festival.  This thread has a really nice sheen, it looks a lot like rayon thread, but it's much stronger.

The second quilt I long-armed is "Strips and Ladders."  The fabric is Lily Ashbury's "Summerhouse." and the backing is some pepto-pink from the stash.

 

I pieced this quilt at Granny's Attic's "Quilting in the Pines" retreat in Idaho last October.  I quilted it with the same thread, but used a loop design that is really fun to quilt.  I just put on some swing music and loop-de-loop!

I'm going back to "Quilting in the Pines" next week, and taking this quilt along to put on my bed.  It's been snowing this week in McCall, so I might decide to take two quilts!


From the desk of your

WIP Wednesday and We Have a Winner (sort of)

 The Aubry Number Generator chose number 37, which is Kari.  Kari commented on April 29, but sadly is a "no reply" commenter.  Kari, please contact me before Saturday so I can send your goodies to you.  If I don't hear from Kari by Saturday at noon MDT, I'll choose another winner.

I have two "finishes" for this week, but I'm saving them to show you on Friday.  So here is one of the two quilts I pieced while I was in Ohio last month:

Recognize the fabric?  Yep, it's Sarah Fielke's "From Little Things," that I found at the Cosmic Cow in Lincoln, Nebraska!  The pattern is "Ups and Down" from the April/May 2011 issue of "Down Under Quilts."

I'm linking up to




I mailed my registration for Quilt Camp and I have the quilt for my bed (we have to bring our own linens) quilted, bound and in the washer.  I've pretty much decided what projects to take along, so now I need to go chain myself to the cutting table!



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