i have to say...

On the Road to Spring quilt-along (week four: assembling your quilt sandwich)

I am behind on checking the flickr group and sending out addresses for the Sewing Seeds project.  By the end of today I will be caught up, I promise!

We are over halfway there! 

This is another easy and non-time consuming week.  If you are feeling behind, this is a great week to get caught up. 

First up, make sure you have all the supplies you need:  your quilt top, 3 yards backing fabric, 2 yards 90" wide Warm and Natural batting, quilter's safety pins, masking tape and some floor space.

The first thing you need to do is to lay out your backing fabric on the floor:

Then you will fold it lengthwise (the selvage edge is at the top of the photo) and lay your quilt top underneath the folded piece to make sure that it is smaller (there is no reason that the quilt top should be bigger than the backing piece, but I always like to check prior to cutting):

Now cut along the edge the scissors are pointing to in the above picture.  Your fabric will look like this now:

Cut your selvage edges off so they don't end up showing on your quilt backing:

Turn your right sides together (lining up the edges where you cut the selvages off) and sew the pieces together using a 1/4" seam:

This is what your backing piece should look like:

Iron your seam:

Lay your backing right-side down on the floor:

Start taping the backing fabric to the floor (this helps to avoid puckering when you add the batting and the quilt top):

This is what you should be looking at now:

This is the view from the top of my stairs:

Open up your quilt batting and lay it out even with the right edge and the bottom edge of your quilt backing (the extra should hang over the upper edge and the left edge).  Spend some time making sure your batting is straight and as flat as you can get it:

Now add your quilt top about 2-3 inches from the right edge and the bottom edge:

Here is a closer view:

Trim all the way around your quilt about 2-3 inches from the edge:

This is what you should see at this point:

You need to clip on your safety pins over the top of your quilt:

I usually put mine on about 6 inches apart.  Close up of pinned section:

That's it! 

Now you get to set your lovely quilt-sandwich aside and get ready for next week:  machine-quilting!  Today I am going to try to put together a video to demonstrate how it's done. Crossing my fingers that it works out!  :)

Happy sewing!

shop notes: tons of new goodies!

I have yardage and bundles available from the Oz Collection by Sanae as well as the Old New 30's Collection by Lecien Fabrics.  Both are adorable!

Have a lovely weekend!

i must have forgotten....

...to post wedding pictures!

I guess my mind decided to bypass it as soon as we were done.  Can't imagine why....:)

No really, it was a wonderful day.  Filled with love and smiles and new additions to the family.  As mother-of-the-bride I can say that I think someone else should do all of the planning for the big day so the bride and mom can just relax and enjoy.  I am blessed to have a small gang of friends who pretty  much took over and allowed me to focus on the festivities.  Such goodness!

Well, here is a peek at the day (almost 2 months ago!):

There you have it!  Great memories made and a grand celebration.

Two weeks after this event my girl's new hubby had to deploy.  I really can't wait until this summer when I will be packing her up and sending her to California to start her married life a little more officially.  She is counting the days until he returns.....

Have a great day!

thought you might like to know...

...that birds invaded our birdfeeder in the snow. 

...today we will start making Valentine's boxes.  this is a big deal in our house.   guess my kids are a bit competitive.

...i am really bad at playing pool.  i do, however, still give people advice on how to play.

...i loved the movie The Book of Eli.

...i am reading Twilight and i am surprised at how much i like it.

...that i wish i had some Starbuck's Caramel Macchiato ice cream right now.  even though it is 8 degrees outside.

...my favorite book in the Bible is Hosea.  it is all about God's unconditional love towards us.  a girl needs to be reminded of that once in a while, you know?

...we are a attempting to make rock candy.

...i feel really blessed to have the friends that i do.

...even though my life isn't overly exciting, i still love it.  a whole bunch.

what about you?  is there anything i should know about you?  :)

On the Road to Spring quilt-along (week three: sewing your quilt top together)

This is a big week!  Once you finish this lesson, you will have your entire quilt top sewn together.   And that is quite an accomplishment!

I suggest that if you do not have large chunks of free time, that you break this up in to a few days of sewing, unless you are one of those "get it done now" types who really likes to go for it.  In that case, charge through it until you are done.  Just don't forget to have fun while you do it.

Here's what we have done so far:

week one: choosing and preparing your fabrics

week two: cutting the pieces for the quilt

The first thing that I want you to do is to place all of your printed rectangles into a bag or a bowl next to your sewing machine.  This will help you to pick random pieces for your strips, rather than choosing according to color or print and then ending up with strips that are very similar.  You need this to be random.  You can set your pile of neutral squares next to the bag.

Now stick your hand into the bag (no peeking) and take one printed rectangle out.  You can also grab one neutral square from the pile.  Place the neutral square on top of the printed rectangle (right sides together), lining up the edges evenly.  Place these pieces on the sewing machine, right along the edge of the presser foot.  On my machine, this is a 1/4" seam.  You can check your own machine to determine that measurement.

***WHATEVER MEASUREMENT YOU CHOOSE, STICK WITH IT FOR THE ENTIRE QUILT TOP.  IF YOU DON'T YOU WILL END UP WITH SEAMS THAT DON'T MATCH UP--THIS IS NO FUN!

See the picture below for a better look at where to line up your pieces with the presser foot:

 

Now sew all along that edge:

At this point you will continue to add alternating pieces (square, rectangle, square, rectangle) until you form one entire strip.  Each strip will consist of ten pieces total, 5 squares, 5 rectangles.

When I pick the fabrics out of the bag, I always toss back a print if I already have it in that row.

Continue until you have 20 of these strips.  When you are getting close to being done with the strips, take a look to see which fabrics are left.  You may want to arrange these before sewing the last 4-5 strips to avoid having the same fabric in one row.

Now get to ironing:

I iron all of the strips the same way.  Starting at one end of each row(pick either square or rectangle) iron the seams in the same direction.  Do not iron the seams open.  Finish all of the strips in this manner.

We are halfway there!

You will want to find a large area of floor space at this point, and you probably won't want kids or dogs running around the house because you will have to lay out your entire quilt on the floor.  Let's not start your quilt's life by getting it trampled.

Begin by laying out your strips, alternating between a square and a rectangle beginning each row (just flip the strips over to alternate the pieces).

Ack!  A really skinny quilt already.  How fun!

Now simply keep adding the strips like so:

All of a sudden you will find yourself with this:

How awesome is that?

At this point you will want to take a  good look at your quilt to make sure that you like the arrangement.  If you find that one color or print dominates an area, just switch the strips around.  It took me about 30 minutes to fully arrange my strips the way I liked them.

Now we are going to step back to the sewing machine.  Grab two strips from one end of the quilt.

You will be pinning the strips together at the "blocks".  See the photos below to find your "blocks".

According to these strips:

These pieces are your "blocks":

On the left row, the block starts with the print and ends with the neutral.  On the right row, the block starts with the neutral and ends with the print.  This will progress all along each strip and you will use those markers for pinning.

"LET ME KNOW IF THIS "BLOCK" STEP DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.  YOU MAY BE ABLE TO FIGURE IT OUT JUST BY HOLDING TWO STRIPS TOGETHER AND LOOKING FOR THE OBVIOUS PLACES TO PIN.

Pin the "blocks" together as shown:

On seam will go one way, the other seam opposite.  The makes it so the pieces lie together nicely.

It is also helpful to place a pin on the edge of the 1st row so that you are always able to tell where you started (this helps when you get confused about which end of the quilt to sew the next strip into).  See the blue pin below.

***PLEASE NOTE THAT THE PHOTO BELOW SHOWS AN EXTRA ROW, RATHER THAN THE TWO YOU HAVE IN YOUR HAND RIGHT NOW.

Sew those two strips together using a 1/4 seam.

Now keep adding strips, one by one. Note how the blue pin helps you to find your place:

 

Now you will keep adding rows until all 20 are sewn together:

Wow!  I am sure your quilt looks fantastic at this point.  Be sure to pat yourself on the back!

Now you will iron the back (iron all seams in the same direction) and trim all of those pesky strings (the trimming step takes a while):

Now lay it out on the floor and gaze at your quilt's awesomeness:

 

You are done for this week!  Set your quilt-top aside for next week when we will turn it into a sandwich.  Seriously!

Please visit the Flickr group to join in the discussion.

Happy sewing!

address for skirts

I started to reply with my address for the skirts when I realized those posts were going into my comments.  For obvious reasons, I don't want that information to be so public.  Instead I replied through email.  If you do not receive my email, simple contact me at ihavetosayblog [@] gmail [dot]com and I will get that information to you.  A couple of them came back as undeliverable.

Thanks!

Randi  :)

a few things...

For some reason I can't access my email account, but I will send addresses to everyone ASAP.  It may be Sunday because my daughter and I get to go on a little trip this weekend!  Woohoo!

Also, in the Flickr group a couple of fantastic ladies posted information on how to enlarge the quilt dimensions and how to come up with yardage requirements.  Here are those links for those of you who have asked:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1339677@N23/discuss/72157623226233163/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1339677@N23/discuss/72157623225832349/

I hope that is helpful!  Let's just say that math was not my best subject!  :)

I wish all a wonderful weekend!

sewing seeds for haiti

It is time for a new Sewing Seeds project! 

With the recent devastation in Haiti, there is a great need for all kinds of love to be sent to the people there.  Right after the earthquake I began wondering if we should do something about it in the form of Sewing Seeds , but I wanted clear direction.  A few days later I was at our homeschool co-op and one of the dads asked for prayer for a cousin of his who is a missionary serving a community right at the earthquake's epicenter.  I knew this was it!

My friends are Mennonite and so are the missionaries.  They serve in a number of ways, but they do serve lunch to over 100 schoolchildren every single day (that was the number prior to the earthquake).  Many of these kids are now without basic necessities.  I am so excited that we are able to help in this small way of making skirts for the girls.  I have gone back and forth on whether or not to add shorts for boys this time, but my heart tells me to stick with the skirts.  This leads me to believe that the boys will be taken care of in another way.  That's the way God works in my experience.  Do what He leads you to do and all gaps will be filled by Him.

"Sow the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of my love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you."---Hosea 10:12

Since the  missionary group is Mennonite, I ask that all skirts be at least knee length.  This is not their request, but rather mine out of respect for their customs.

Here are a couple of skirt tutorials:

tiered skirt tutorial

tiered, ruffle skirt

I am only linking the tiered skirt tutorials because of the lengths needed on the skirts.  Please feel free to use a pattern of your own and make it any child's size that you want to (keep it knew length or below the knee).  I always make the skirts in Aubry's size and that way it feels more personal.  Basically, do as you please.  :)

***In regards to postage, there is a possibility that the skirts will be transported for free. I will let you all know as soon as I know. 

If you would like to make a skirt (or two or three) please leave a comment on this post.  If you leave your email address I can send you my home address so you can mail the skirt to me.  The deadline for skirts is Friday, March 5th.  

Blessings to all of you!

***Please feel free to link to this post and to download the graphic for use on your own blog. 

Thanks!

On the Road to Spring quilt-along (week two: cutting the pieces for the quilt)

Week two already!   That means two things:

1. we are getting just a little closer to a finished quilt

2. we are getting just a little closer to spring!

I can feel good about both of those things!

Here's what we have done so far:

week one: choosing and preparing your fabrics

If you want more information about what is going on, please scroll through these posts.  Feel free to join in at any time!

Please remember to post your photos in the flickr group!

This week is the week to cut our fabrics.  If you are new to using a rotary cutter, take your time at first until you get the feel for it.  Once you get going on this step you will get done quickly.  If you are a beginner please read through this post thoroughly before you start.

We will be cutting 100 7-1/2"X 3-1/2" rectangles from the print fabrics and 100 3-1/2" X 3-1/2" squares from your neutral fabric.

Let's work with our print fabrics first (the 1/3 yard pieces).  In order to get a straight edge you will need to make tear down one side of each fabric piece. 

Make a small cut on one of the cut edges (a 1/4 inch cut about 1/2 inch into your fabric). Then start tearing. This sounds a bit scary, but it won't hurt anything:

After you tear all the way down the edge your fabric should look like this:

We need to trim that fluffy stuff off!  Take your fabric and fold it twice lengthwise.  In the photo the torn edge is under the ruler.  Now I want you to take your fabric and place it on the mat.  Place your ruler 1/4"-1/2" over the cut edge:

Now place firm pressure on your ruler with your left hand.  Using your rotary cutter, apply firm pressure and cut from the bottom to the top of the fabric.  Your cut should go through all of the layers.  If it doesn't, just try again with a little more pressure.

The left cut edge of your fabric should be nice and straight and free of fluff:

Now we are going to cut a 7-1/2 inch strip.  Place your cut fabric edge on the left side of your mat (even with the first line on the mat).  Make sure it is nice and straight.  Now place the left edge of your ruler on the 1-1/2 inch line of your mat.  The right edge of the ruler should be on the 7-1/2 inch line.  Take a moment to check that everything is in the right place and then make your cut on the 7-1/2" line:

Here is what you should have.  The piece on the left will be used for the rectangles and the piece on the right goes in your quilt stash:

Now you will need to unfold your 7-1/2" strip and lay it out along your mat.  Please note that the length of the fabric will be running left to right on your mat.  Lay the fabric even with one of the lines on your mat. In order to make a straight edge you will be to cut a 1/2" piece off of the left side:

For these 3-1/2" cuts you can use the ruler by itself for measuring.  Place the ruler over your fabric and measure 3-1/2":

Make your cut.  You should end up with a 7-1/2" X 3-1/2" rectangle:

All you need to do is to cut 100 more rectangles and you will be set with your prints.  This won't take as long is it sound like it will!

Now grab your neutral fabric piece.  You are going to make that same cut and tear all along one of the cut edges:

Fold your fabric and measure 1/4"-1/2" along one cut edge:

Now you want to measure 3-1/2" into the fabric:

Make your cut:

With your fabric straight along one of the lines on your mat, lay out your piece of fabric with the length running from left to right on your mat.  Cut a 1/2" piece off of the left edge to make a straight edge:

This is what you should be seeing:

Now measure 3-1/2" into your fabric piece:

Make your cut:

Do this until you have 100 squares. You should be feeling pretty confident by now with the rotary cutter!

When you are done you should have some lovely piles of fabric!

Next week these squares and rectangles are going to work their way into a gorgeous quilt top.  You will be surprised at how lovely they look when they gather together!

Happy sewing!