Happy 2013!

I'm a little late to the party wishing you all a Happy New Year, but better late than never, right?!

I managed to squeak out a few finishes at the very end of 2012 - and I do mean the very end. As in December 31!

This Sunburst Baby quilt had been quilted with an all-over stipple pattern...

And the binding was machine-attached in mid-December...

But the label wasn't attached until New Year's Eve. It's now been delivered to the family, and hopefully they are enjoying it :)

This sweet pink and yellow jelly-roll baby quilt is headed to a local hospital NICU unit with lots of other baby quilts made by my sewing group at church.

Love that sweet polka dot binding...

And last but not least, true to my usual habit of finishing a holiday project within days of the holiday, my little button tree was framed just long enough to sit on the hearth for a photo. It's now packed away, and I'll likely forget about it until late November this year when we haul all the decorations up again. I'll open the box, unwrap it, and say something like, "oh how lovely! I'm so glad I finished it!"

I'd like to say that I resolve to finish more of what I start this year, but that's just not me. I do resolve to finish items with a deadline first, but then I'm just going to work on whatever makes me happy at the moment, and if it gets finished, great! But the whole point should be to have fun, shouldn't it?

Here's to a healthy, happy, and FUN 2013!!

pretty in pink

I am so lucky to be a part of a charity quilting group at my church. We meet every week and sew quilts and other projects for organizations such as Lutheran World Relief and Project Linus, as well as quilts and gift baskets for various local fund-raising efforts.

Our latest project is making baby quilts for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a local hospital. These small quilts will be donated to families with babies being cared for in the unit.

This little pink lovely is my first contribution to the group's donation set of quilts.

I started with a WOF strip scrap bag from an LQS purchased a couple of years ago. I think most of these fabrics were from a Moda Basic Grey line, but sorry I can't remember the name. I cut all the strips in half and sewed 16 of them into the center section. With the remaining strips I constructed some four-patch units to add to the sides with a 2" finished strip of white-on-white to separate them. The final border strips are the same 2" finished white-on-white bringing the total dimension to about 36" x 39" - perfect for new babies :)

The center and four-patch borders are straight line quilted in a pale pink thread.

Within the white border sections I free-motion quilted a continuous line of pale pink hearts.

The backing is a cozy pink-on-white stripe flannel.

It gives me such a great feeling knowing that this little quilt will be given to a family with a tiny new baby girl receiving extra special care and attention before she's able to go home.

I've got two more quilts for this hospital donation in the works. More about them later!

Hope you are all enjoying your week!

it sounds too good to be true...

But it really isn't! Meet the latest tool to help you easily mark quilting lines - the Frixion Pen by Pilot.

It comes in range of colors (black, blue, red, purple, orange, fuchsia, etc) and was originally designed for crossword and sudoku puzzle enthusiasts who wanted an erasable pen. Yes, it is erasable on paper, but even better for quilters, it disappears from fabric when touched with a hot iron! Here I have marked a swatch of my latest project with a black Frixion pen:

Touching it with a hot iron:

and "TA-DA", the black marking is gone!

As with any marking tool, it's best to test it on all your fabrics before making a full commitment to using it somewhere that may cause you great anguish if it, in fact, cannot be removed. In these next two shots, I've marked all my fabrics with the pen to test it:

And now after ironing, the black marking is gone.

You can see a slight bit of white residue on the darkest fabric, but since I'm going to mark quilting lines that will be stitched on, that bit of white is just fine with me.

I used the black pen to mark all the quilting lines on this project, and I'm happy to report that after quilting, all the marks did indeed disappear, and I cannot find any traces of residue :)

DISCLAIMER: Some of my LQS customers did report having problems with these pens not removing from batik fabrics. So even though I already said it, I'll say it again. Make sure you test it first! The pens are probably available at your LQS, but if you can't find them there, try an office supply store like Office Max or Office Depot. The pens I tested were sort of like a very fine felt-tip; I know there are others being sold that resemble a highlighting marker in color and appearance, and I can't speak to how well those work. But those "felt-tips"? Well, I've got one in every color now!

Oh, and another thing you should know - if the project you've erased the markings from is exposed to cold temperatures (say the freezer or your cold car sitting outside overnight) the markings will come back! You can still remove them again with a hot iron, but I'm just letting you know :) I'm sure you don't routinely put your quilts in your freezer, but I'd hate for you to load up your car with a precious wedding or baby shower quilt gift in some freezing cold weather, only to discover that those black markings have re-appeared as the bride/mom-to-be opens your one-of-a-kind gift. Be prepared!

And just in case you're wondering, this is the quilt top that I was working on while testing the pens. It's called "Breakfast Blues", and it's the February Breakfast Club II project I'm teaching at my LQS :)

sneak peek

MY LQS is starting a new series of monthly classes in January called "Breakfast Club II". It's a series of patterns and recipes put together by the FabShopHop folks, and yours truly is teaching the January and February sessions. Each month a new, exclusive pattern utilizes jelly roll strips to make a fun quilt project in sizes ranging from place-mats to king sized quilt.


Here's a little preview of the January project...

And because a quilting get-together is sooo much better with food, I'll also be cooking the corresponding breakfast recipe for the class! January is gonna be a good one - one of my most favorite breakfast foods. HINT: strawberries are one of the main ingredients. Any guesses?


If you're in the northwest suburban Chicago area, and you'd like to join me for this class, click here to be directed to the Quilt in Joy website for all the details :)  Just click on the "Classes" tab at the page top when you get there.