Tag Archives: Quilts

Who Says You Can’t Go Home Again?

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Well, almost.  I am from Central New York.  New York Mills, NY to be exact.  I have left Virginia, and for now I’m staying with my cousin Brenda in Alder Creek, about 22 miles north of Utica.  I am not a country girl.  There is not a quilt Shop for 22 miles (Lord have mercy)!

Alder Creek

Brenda’s house is charming as you can see.

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This small shack on her property was a Speak Easy back in the day.

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Today my sister Mary and I went exploring.  Above is the Boonville pool.  We spent many summer days here when we were kids.

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Boonville also has a lovey covered bridge.

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The Hulbert House from 1812 was featured on The Scifi channel Ghost Hunters.  It is haunted!

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This beautiful scene is the Black River in Forestport, NY

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My little corner in Brenda’s dinning room.

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I’m working on a new hexagon quilt trying to get my Mojo back!

My last Quilt Class in Virginia

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Today I taught my last quilt class in Virginia. In about 6 weeks I will be moving to Upstate NY, Utica to be exact, my hometown. Today we finished up our Doubly Charmed class where we first made the Corner Beam quilt.

Doubly Charmed

We saved our side triangles to use in our V Block quilt.

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I want to thank Nancy, Denise, Carol and Karen for a great last class!
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Jennifer Griffin will be taking over the Studio 180 Design Tool Demo classes in Virginia Beach.  She is happily holding up the Diamonds Rects tool.  In her first demo class she will teach you to make a simple Storm at Sea using the Studio 180 Design Diamond Rects and Squared2 rulers.  I know she will do a great job!  Look out NY, get ready for One Block Wonders and Deb Tucker’s spectacular rulers and quilt patterns.

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Number 54

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OGeorgia OKeefe OBW

Number 54 is finished.  This hexagon quily was made from fabric by Alexander Henry based on the art of Georgia O’Keefe.  I love this fabric.  This was supposed to be a gift for someone dear, but I am not pleased with my quilting so it will stay in my collection.

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06 Original Artwork

Above is the original Georgia O’Keefe art that the fabric is based on.  Next I would like to make a hexagon quilt to commemorate Grand Central Station’s 100th birthday.

Green with Envy????

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No, just green with batting.  Quilters Dream Green that is.  I completed “Twister” a Studio 180 Design pattern for a class I was teaching several months ago, but I just now found time to quilt it.  I love this pattern, it is a companion pattern for the Tucker Trimmer I.  There is nothing like a pieced border to give your quilt eye catching appeal.  I used a focus fabric by Alison Glass called Lucky Penney in the border.  It was my jumping off point for the colors I chose.

Twister and Dream Green

This was my opportunity to try Dream Green earth friendly batting, made from 100% recycled plastic bottles.  Recycled plastic bottles are cut into chips, washed, melted and extruded into fine polyester fibers.  Processed using the close-the-loop recycling chain, it is pro-environment in both its raw material source and its manufacturing process.  Each pound of Dream Green Batting keeps 10 plastic bottles out of our landfills.

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Dream Green loaded easily and stitched beautifully.  There is no scrim or resins, yet you can stitch up to 12″ apart.  I machine washed it in warm water and dried it on a medium heat.  I thought it behaved very much like cotton batting.  There was very little shrinkage.  I was pleased with Dream Green and will use it again.

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Twister is a great skill building pattern.

I Am No Longer a Wool Virgin

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If you have ever wanted to make migrating geese, I am here to tell you they are not difficult. You do not need a special tool. This process is a Precision Technique so be sure to use your best skills when cutting, marking, stitching & pressing.  Deb Tucker has a Technique sheet that shows you a quick easy and fun way to make these migrating geese in 7 different sizes.
Blue Geese

I decided to try (for the first time) Dream Wool by Quilters Dream Batting.  Dream wool is made in the USA, from a blend of fine domestic and Merino wool.  Dream Wool contains no scrim or resins, it is carded, crosslapped and thermally boned for uniformity and strength.  It was like quilting on air

Blue Goose

Quilts made with Dream Wool may be machine washed and dried with little shrinkage using cool water and a cool dryer.  Of course I did not follow these instructions because that is how I roll.  I did wash it in cold water, but I dried it normally, as I would any quilt.  It did shrink, but not dis-similar to a quilt with 100% cotton batting.

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I love this process for making Migrating Geese and encourage you to try it.

 

 

Victorious

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I just finished quilting and binding my Studio 180 design pattern “Victorious”  I’m on my quest to branch out and try other battings.  Of course my preference is any batting by Quilters Dream.  This time I used the “Blend”, 70% cotton & 30% polyester, needle punched onto an ultra light scrim base.  It was created especially for machine quilters.

Victorious

It was very nice to work with.  It didn’t stretch out of shape at all.  It stitched beautifully.  It held its shape throughout the washing and drying process.

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Victorious is a beautiful traditional quilt pattern that uses the Deb Tucker V Block tool and the Squared2 tool for units in four corners of the border.  The V Block tool was also used to create the diamond shapes in the border.  Although, now Deb has created the Diamond Rects tool that could also be used to create the border units.

Dreaming of the Orient, (Batting that is)

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I’m a cotton girl. I’ve always used 100% cotton batting. But, this year this Batt Girl is breaking out of her Batt Cave! Today I quilted my Studio 180 Design quilt “Wish Upon”, but I used Dream Orient by Quilters Dream Batting. This batting is made of bamboo, silk, tencel and cotton. When I opened the package the first I noticed was how luxuriously soft it was. It seemed a little thicker than Dream Cotton Select.  It was wonderful to touch.
Wish Upon

I have a small house. I was determined to find a way to get a long arm.  I bought a queen size “John Watts” quilt frame from Australia.  It only weighs 50 pounds, so when I wasn’t using it, it hung on the wall of the garage.  I bought a Nolting “Fun Quilter”  It weighs 40 pounds.  It has a 17″ throat and has a speed and stitch control.  After 7 years of lugging the frame in and out of the house, my husband finished the back pork so I could leave it up full time.

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For today’s adventure, I have loaded the backing.

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I then loaded the Dream Orient.  It handled really nicely, didn’t stretch out of shape at all.  It feels great.
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I have the top loaded.  See my tractor seat stool?  It is great for rolling back and forth while I pin the backing etc. to the leaders.
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I am now ready to quilt.  Like butta, I tell ya, smooooth!
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Last row done.  It looks wonderful.  I’m off to trim off the excess batting and sew the binding on.  There was so much red in this quilt that when I washed it I put in 10 color catchers (they came out pink, so I’m glad I did).  I washed the quilt in cold water and dried it normally.  When I pulled it out the dryer, I noticed immediately how soft it was.  They say quilts quilted with Dream Orient drape beautifully, and they are right!  I am definitely using Dream Orient again.
Wish Upon

This pattern is by Deb Tucker.  We just had a Studio 180 Design Certified Instructor Reunion.  Deb gave this to us as a mystery, but she will making the pattern available sometime this summer.  It uses the Split Rects Tool and the Wing Clipper I and the Tucker Trimmer I.  I love this quilt.

Do You Ever Pop Off?

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….Corners that is. Deb Tucker is at it again, and is about to release a new Studio 180 Design Tool. At the certified teacher reunion we were given the chance to play with the “Corner Pop”. We were given permission to blog about it but I can’t show a picture of the ruler until it is released, hopefully by Spring Market in May.

Corner Pop

Above are blocks made using the Corner Pop ruler, made by Deb Tucker.  This ruler makes it so easy to pop off a corner without having to draw any lines.
02 Corner pop student samples

Above are blocks made using the Corner Pop ruler by the certified instructors.
03 Corner pop 2 jacks

I made the block above using the V Block, Corner Beam and Corner Pop rulers.
04 Michelle H block

Above is a Hunter Star with the corners popped off and a strip added before sewing the popped off corner back on.  This was made by Michelle Hiatt of “Sew on the Go“.  I love what she did.

Below I will describe how to use the Corner Pop ruler:
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To begin, I made four 4.5″ unfinished V Blocks.
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The Corner Pop ruler has measurements for popping off the corner in 1/2″  increments from 1″ to 6″, and 1/2″ increments from 3/4″ to 5 3/4″.  It is also used for trimming down.  To determine how much to pop off divide the “Finished” size of your unit in half.  My V Blocks will finish at 4″, so I place the 2″ line placement on my unit and popped off the corner.
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I then flip the V Block unit over and pop off the second corner.
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What ever size you pop off add 1  1/4″ to that.  I popped off 2″ so 2 + 1  1/4″= 3 1/4″.  I cut four 3 1/4″ squares.
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Cut each square in half diagonally.
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Center a triangle on one side of the Corner Popped  V block and stitch.
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Press toward the triangle.
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Center the 2nd triangle on the other side and stitch.
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Press toward the triangle and trim down using the measurements on the Corner Pop Ruler.
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I cut four 4 1/2″ squares and popped off the corner to make snowball units.
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I cut four more 3 1/4″ squares and cut in half diagonally, and stitched the triangle on the popped off side.
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Press toward the triangle and trim down.
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I cut a 4 1/2″ center block and laid out my units.
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Above is the finished block with the corners popped off the V Blocks and Snowball units WITHOUT DRAWING ANY LINES!

This tool can open up very creative ways to make intricate blocks easily.  Woo Hoo!

Northern Neighbors

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Northern Neighbors
This is Deb Tucker’s new pattern she is calling Northern Neighbors. She has not decided how to finish the border yet. But it is stunning! We just had our Studio 180 Design Certified Instructor’s reunion and we got the chance to work on this pattern. Deb hopes to release it in May 2014.  This pattern uses Studio 180 Design Split Rects, Wing Clipper I, Corner Beam.  The diamond in a square block can also be made with Deb’s new tool called “Corner Pop”, more on that new tool later.

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Above are some of the instructor’s version of Northern Neighbors.

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These are Dan’s blocks. Dan and his wife own “Threads Galore Quilt Shop, in Rangeley Maine.

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This is Phyllis’ version using Kansas Troubles.

05 Donna NN
Donna’s are so beautiful using batiks.  I’m working on mine, I am using reds and white.  I’ll share when I get it put together.

Don’t Call Me Frank!

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Interlocking Stars
This is my finished mystery given to the Studio 180 Design Certified Instructor’s. It will be released as a pattern early summer 2014. I’ve a bad cold and have been taking a lot of NyQuil. They have been teasing me that I will have to go Betty Ford to get of NyQuil. Needless to say, I made some mistakes because of NyQuil Residue. I had to do a lot of un-sewing. I jokingly called my quilt “Frank” because he had been taken apart and sew back together so many times he had scars!

We used Split Rects, Wing Clipper I, and the Tucker Trimmer I. This is a fun quilt to make!