Couple more totes

I made a reversible tote bag with one side made from selvedges.   It is easy to make selvedge “fabric” by just sewing strips of selvedge to muslin.

Front	Back	Reversible Side

This tote was made with a free pattern from sew4home Click here for pattern
I love the Tula Pink fabric so just had to make one.  I know, I know, I’m supposed to see ‘beyond’ the fabric the pattern is made in…

Swimsuits and Text

 

Can you tell I am obsessed with text fabric?  I thought this would be cute for Jennifer, sorta like laying on the beach and reading.   I used some leftover fabric from her beach tote and some new Gina Martin Sanibel.  The pattern was only .99 at Hancock’s of Paducah  Click here for free pattern   Cute Cute, Easy Easy! 

Liquid Gold

We had fun extracting Geff’s first big ‘crop’ of honey today.  Thought you may enjoy seeing the process that got these pretty jars of glistening gold honey to the countertop. 



 

The hardest part of the process is taking care of the bees and getting them to the point of having extra honey.  Geff (a.k.a. the bee hoarder) has really come a long way in keeping strong, healthy, organically maintained hives.  He doesn’t use chemicals or pesticides in his beehives. Nothing bad for you in this honey.

East Tennessee and Whistlestop Shop Hops 2015

Whistlestop Shops

 

There were 2 Quilt Shop Hops (Whistlestop and East Tennessee) running simultaneously and of course Karen and I tried to do them all!  What were we thinking, 22 quilt stores in 5 days?  I never want to see a yard a fabric again, unless it’s that “oh wait I still need it!”  fabric.  You can see the complete list of shops on my earlier post http://www.sewingwithrascal.com/2015/05/2015-quilting-shop-hops-in-tennessee.html    (P.S. I have a problem, I just bought 2 yards of fabric online from Mountain Creek while writing this)

Petals and Text Quilted – OMG It’s a Masterpiece!

Judy Egan quilted my Petals and Text quilt and what a wonderful job she did!  Judy is a professional, reserved lady so I was amused to receive a voicemail from her being so excited, almost singing in her New Jersey accent – “ OMG I am soooo excited about this, I think it is one of my masterpieeccesss !”   I would agree, it is a masterpiece of longarm quilting!  She made my quilt top into more than I ever dreamed it could be.  I found her at the Village Quilt show last fall.  There were so many examples of her work in the show that just stood out from all the others.  I  just knew I had to get something of mine quilted by Judy and am I ever glad I did.  She does custom quilting, her quilting is not computerized, she just has a God-given talent to create a design and then uses her hands to guide her Gammill. 

Berry Hill Bees Honey

 

Introducing the first jar of Berry Hill Bees honey

 

 

Geff just filled his first jar of honey from his own beehives.  How exciting and isn’t it pretty honey?  Okay, so it is only 4 ounces, just a little to see how the honey is coming along.  He thinks we will have several gallons in July.  It’s real thick honey from pure capped nectar.  He didn’t use pesticides or antibiotics in the hives.  I can’t wait for July and hopefully we'll have enough to share.  I found these cute glass Muth jars in 3 sizes ( 1 lb, 8 oz and 4 oz)   You know I just couldn’t go with plain ole plastic bears...    He is working on his own custom label and decided to name it Berry Hill Bees.  



Jars patiently waiting for honey
 

2015 Quilting Shop Hops in Tennessee

There are two quilting shop hops in the East Tennessee this June 4 to June 13 (2015) – The East Tennessee Shop Hop and the Whistlestop Shop Hop.  They are both during the same couple weeks and span a large distance. The shops are as far north as Jonesborough TN and as far south as Chattanooga (218 miles apart) not counting the farthest west Little Blessings in Crossville, another 58 miles west.   

Whistlestop Quilt Retreat

There is a lovely quilt retreat in Sweetwater Tennessee Whistlestop run by Jodi Savage.  She hosts quilt retreats and teaches sewing classes. Whistlestop is a 150 year old farmhouse that Jodi has renovated. She has excellent taste and had quilts made for all the bedrooms.   I highly recommend making the trip to one of her retreats or classes.  You can read more about it at the website http://www.whistlestopquiltretreat.com/

Here are a few pictures I took of the quilts on the retreat beds:



LOVE this idea Jodi had for displaying quilt tops, she draped them on a quilt hoop and added a plaque with the pattern name and then hung along the hall.

   

Here’s a picture from Whistestop’s facebook page of  an appliqué class I took.  Jodi teaches an appliqué technique that makes it bearable for even me.   (Yes, that is Cindy Blackberg taking class with us)

 

 

Some of Jodi’s appliqué, she is a real pro!

 

Funny, I saw the little wheelbarrow on Jodi’s shelf that inspired my yardstick wheelbarrow.  (you can see the wheelbarrow post here)  I forgot that it was so small.

Jodi’s “inspiration” ruler wheelbarrow

My “big imagination” yardstick wheelbarrow

Travel Essentials Bag

Karen and I took a class with Sue Jones to make a Travel Essentials bag.  I made the bag for Jennifer to use while traveling but it can be used for taking sewing supplies to class also.

Sue taught the  class at Pappy’s quilting place in Maryville, TN.  Pappy’s has a nice big room for classes

Bags and Bees

I saw this little travel case while taking an applique class from Jodi at Whistlestop Quilt.  Of course Karen and I had to make one too.  I made the first one following the pattern dimensions but didn’t have a cutting mat that small so made another slightly larger one.  Karen surprised me with a mat that fits the original pattern so now I have two!   They do come in handy for taking supplies to sewing classes.  Follow this link to purchase the pattern.

I was taking pictures of it for the blog and when I came back there were 2 boxes of bees  (yes live bees!) propping it up.  



Here’s the culprit with his new toy ”Box-O-Bees” carrying them around like a kid with Legos.



Don’t worry the bees are now safe and sound in their new home OUTSIDE and I finally let Geff back inside his house too.

A quilt for Granny Ivey

My husband wanted  a gift for his ailing grandmother. I decided to make her a quick lap quilt with the double slice pattern again.  This one is much smaller then the yellow/grey one I recently made but a nice size to keep her warm while in her chair. 
It has lots of flowers, bees, vegetables and gardening themes which are all things she enjoyed.  She is colorful  so I chose bright colors like her personality.  I think she liked it, she told me it was a real winner :-) 



 If you look closely, you can see that I used yellow thread and a decorative stitch to quilt it. 

Birds and Bees

Geff painted beehives instead of eggs for Easter.  Aren’t they pretty!  These are Garden Copper Top hives from Brushy Mountain Bee Farm in North Carolina. We have been very pleased with the quality. 

 

The new hives are to be added to the one little beehive that made it thru the winter.    Kind of reminds me of my one lonely girl dog  …


 
He also has his birdhouses put out for spring.   You can see more about his birdhouses at this earlier post http://www.sewingwithrascal.com/2014/12/chickadee-house.html#more

Petals and Text

I’ve been collecting text and newsprint fabrics and liked the idea of using them for background squares.  I followed a pattern from a magazine Scrap Quilts (see small picture).  I started with purples for the petals but changed to various shades of blues and greens because my purples made it look teenage girly.   I’ve always liked blues with black and white and am happy with the way it turned out. 



I used my design wall to decide on the placement of the different blues.  I pulled all the greens and blues from my scrap stash and managed to find enough that complimented each other.  The pattern called for raw edge appliqué but I did a turned appliqué method using freezer paper that I learned in a class from Jodi at Whistestop recently.   Hopefully I’ll get a post together on it soon.

 
     Now to get it quilted...  I am going to use a text print for the backing. 

Quilter’s Design Wall

I wanted a design wall but didn’t have a large empty wall in my house so I decided to make a small one.  It is about 80 x 84, large enough for a twin size quilt.  It is the same color as the wall so not to stick out like a sore thumb when not in use.

Don’t know what a quilter’s design wall is…  well, it’s a vertical  wall to display and “audition” fabrics and quilt blocks when designing a quilt. They are usually made with a material that quilters cotton will stick to without pins. Typically flannel is used  because cotton adheres to it very well.   Being vertical allows you to view the design from a distance and easily reposition the pieces.  For example, I can see a dark print that looks out of place currently on the wall. So much easier to change out before it is sewn together. 


I (ok Geff) made the wall using Insulating Sheathing boards because they are light and can be held on the wall using L screws.  It was relatively simple to make, just cut the boards to fit the wall and duct tape together. Then wrap the boards in a layer of thin batting and secure with duct tape on the back .  Finally, add a layer of flannel and pull taught then tape on the back.  

What an odd picture of Geff, his head was bent down and looks like it is missing.  He said most people wonder if he has a head anyways, falling for these projects all the time.

We used L screws to secure the flannel wrapped boards to the wall.

Wondering what is on the wall?  It is a bunch of text fabric with some petals from a pattern I found in  a magazine Scrap Quilts.  

 

Look at a few of  these cool newsprint and text fabrics I found:

      

Quilt Wizard Design

Been playing around with Quilt Wizard software.  I wasn’t ready to invest in EQ7 and found this Quilt Wizard software for about $20.  It is very, very basic but it did help me visualize an idea I had for making a sort of Irish chain with a random sprinkling of stars.  I made about 3 rows so far and decided to use a smaller middle square in the four patch block unit.   

I am using a Moda Snowbird jelly roll and am making the stars from just one strip and some background fabric.  I had to tinker with the dimensions to get a 10.5”  block that I needed for my quilt. 

One Jelly Roll Strip

Snowbird designed by Laundry Basket is mostly blues and creams and matches my bedroom decor.  Moda has a new fabric line that I adore releasing in June named Coldspell which is also blues and creams. I’m designing this quilt as a prototype for submitting to Moda Bake Shop for use with Coldspell.  Think they’ll like it? 

Another Moda Bake Shop post

I wrote another tutorial for Moda Bake Shop on making a quilt with denim circles.  Here’s the link if you would like to see it http://www.modabakeshop.com/2015/02/denim-circles-quilt.html
It was hard to get the cover photo for this one because I wanted a picnic shot with a basket and some ants ( Karen’s idea) but the weather just would not cooperate.  I ended up having to photoshop in some grass…