Bored again

My pumpkin centre is now complete.  The last bit of applique got done and the rows sewn together.  Now it is time for borders.  You know me and my love/hate relationship with borders.  :o)

Another section of apple cores got done.  Only two more sections to go.  I'll be doing a marathon of basting more apple cores.

We were graced with the presence of this guy yesterday up our backyard hill.  Beautiful to see.  Ashes didn't know what to make of it.  She was sort of growling and meowing at the same time and I had to calm her down.

Have a great day!

Post Retreat

Well, my retreat has come and gone .... and as a newbie .... I now know what goes on there.  You know the saying:  "what goes on at retreats, stays at retreats".

It was fun.  There was a lot of laughter.  Surprising, not a lot of talking.  A room full of women .... not a lot of talking?   Something was amiss.   There was a wonderful combo of quilters from different areas of the province.  A lot of new faces to me.

There was a lot of inspiration!  It was so interesting to walk around the room and take a peek at projects being worked on.  That was a good way to meet new people and strike up a conversation.

Even the wildlife was curious.  My friend, no-blog Mary, looked out the window and spotted a squirrel.  It wanted to see what we were all doing!

 Doesn't no-blog Mary have an interesting T-shirt?  She was working on tumblers. 

At times, the room would empty of a number of people, and a stroll to the lobby would find them catching up on emails, etc.

Each evening, after dinner, would find us all back at our projects until 8:00 p.m. and some stayed even later.   This was hard for me.  I'm just not used to sitting at my sewing machine for hours on end.

We even had a mother and daughter in attendance.

The show of finished tops and quilts was spectacular.  Unfortunately, I didn't catch all the projects that got done.  Here are just a few.

Every surface of the room got used.  Anyone passing by added their two cents into the placement of circles onto this top.

What did I work on?  Well, this top below.  Do you remember how hard I have been working on switching the white sashing to the blue sashing?  Well, it was finally done and I took it with me to remove the background fabric from behind all the applique.  Not all got done, but most was removed.  I had to be especially careful with my scissors as it was so easy to be distracted.  A glass of wine and scissors is not a good combination.  Luckily, I knew when to stay 'stop' to myself and it got carefully folded up and put away.

Six protective clothing bibs were made.

The bottom left section of apple cores got sewn onto the upper section.   More apple cores got basted for another section.

But .... all my main projects in this container got left behind on my sewing table at home.  Duh, that was so stupid of me.  Still, I did manage to keep myself busy.

So, what else is on my bucket list?

Have a great day!

O Canada

We stand on guard for thee ....

Retreat time

Today, I along with no-blog Mary (from Toronto) will be heading out for our first quilting retreat.  Yep, we are newbies!

We really don't know what to expect.  There have been some interesting emails going back and forth amongst some of the attendees. 

Now, trying to decide what to bring?

For sure, this project is coming along:

It will be so nice to get this project done and since it is fall .... what better project to work on?

There will be apple cores for some handwork time:

Perhaps some adult bibs will get made?  This past week, two have been made (they are shown on the right) and eight more need to get done to meet my annual donation commitment for my day quilting guild.

Those projects should keep me busy and there is enough of a variety that I shouldn't be bored.

Have a great day, eh!

Apple cores - how to?

How do I go about sewing together my apple cores?  It is easy.

The apple cores in this section below were removed and pinned onto a piece of cotton batting.  Smaller sections are just easier to handle.

For me, I like to start in the bottom left hand side.

Below is the start of sewing the pieces together.  The paperclip you see attached to one of the apple cores helps to keep my sewing orientated.  When I see the paperclip, I know that is the very bottom of the section and it is easier to put back in the right order. 

 

Below is the sewn three-piece section put back in it's original place.  So, which ones will get worked on next?  The ones with the big X on them.

Here are those three cores pinned onto the bottom piece.  See the arrows?  That is the route that my sewing will take me.  I just find that it is easier to work on diagonal rows.  The sewing is more continuous and organized.

How are the pieces assembled?  Looking at the photo below, you can see how my core on the right is slid into place by using all the drawn lines.  Each core (for this diagonal row) will be pinned into place and then I can start sewing.

A simple applique stitch is all that I use.

The meeting of this corner is perfect.  Sometimes my core has to be repinned as I sew along.

As soon as possible, some of the paper templates are removed.  Only remove the ones that are surrounded by another core that still has it's paper template attached.

This post really should have been started at the beginning.  How did I start my apple core project?  Find a pattern and adjust the size of the apple core to the size that you want to make.  My pattern came from EQ7 and Block Base.  That was the start.

I made my own paper templates.  They are easy to make and only scrap paper is used.

Here are four paper templates ready to be used.  Don't use more than four sheets of scrap paper at a time.

Pin the paper template to the back of your fabric.  Use three pins as shown below.  

Trim the fabric all around the template leaving a good 1/4" seam allowance. 

Start folding the fabric over the paper template and baste in place.  You don't have to snip your fabric to fold over nicely.  The curve is gentle and the fabric will fold without much fuss.

Once your get half way on the curve, remove your pin that is on the back and repin the last half of the curve and continue basting.

This is what the back looks like of one of my apple cores:

The drawn lines that you see on all my apple cores just helps me keep everything in its' proper place and lined up correctly.   Using a light box, my template is placed on top of the fabric and after lining up the template to the paper piece on the back of the apple core, I draw a line using Crayola Washable Fine Markers. 

My paper templates are reused and are pressed with an iron to make them crisp again; but as soon as they lose the crisp feel to them, they are tossed and new ones are made.

My method is not fast .... but it works for me.  So, now you know how to put together an apple core quilt.  Sue Daley has a different method of doing apple cores.  Check out her video.  Whatever method, do try making a few apple cores.  You will be glad you did.  For years, I had put off doing an apple core quilt because I thought it was hard.  Oh well, I'm doing it now.

Have a great day!

Something different

Something totally different for me.

This type of pattern is not my usual style ... but what the heck ... why not try it out.  Our day guild is making this pattern and I had a bin full of blue fabric scraps.

Gumballs from McCall's Quilting, April 2008.

Guess what?  Before I knew it, one border got sewn on and then the outer borders.  Bonus ..... this top didn't sit on the shelf at all waiting for borders.  That is not like me at all.  What is going on????

Since I'm on a roll, I really should get this top marked up for machine quilting and just get it done!

Top size:  63-1/4" x 87-1/2"  

Have a great day!

Apple cores got basted

After doing a marathon session of basting apple cores, another section (from the bright pink piece on the left side down to the bottom) is ready to be sewn together.

Oh, happy, happy, happy!

Have a great day!

Next section .....

...... of my apple core top. 

You can see the start of my next section .... see the arrow on the left side?  Things are moving along quite nicely.  This top will be a nice lap quilt once the borders go on.  Once this top is well under way, I can then think about the split apple core project.  My fingers are itching to start that one.

Have a great day!