Quilt As You Go, Simply Done

Simply Done

Marguerita

Making cutting & pressing easier

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As with my custom quilting desk I’ve improvised my cutting and pressing tables & surfaces. Here are the things I use and like, and why. This table (Sam’s Club $42) has 3 height settings, so I can sew on it (sitting down) or stand comfortably and cut fabrics and battings at it’s tallest setting of 36″ high.
On the table you see my rotary cutter and my 20½” square ruler made by Omni. I just love this for cutting my quilt-as-you-go squares and for cutting batting squares.

I use this gripper stuff after trying several other brands and I just love it! (Walmart) I use it under my laptop, under cutting pads and under the wooden pressing surface that I improvised with a piece of plywood with Warm & Natural batting and muslin fabric. {Lowe’s used to carry these smaller pieces of wood in bins in the plywood aisle, or you can buy a sheet of plywood and have them make the cuts for you}.

I just put the piece of gripper on the bare ironing board surface and then place the wood on it and cover it with cotton batting and then muslin.

Don’t be afraid to improvise to make your sewing and quilting easier. I like the wood board because it is slightly larger than a fat quarter of fabric (18″x22″).

Laughter

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Audrey loved her new hat and although it is a bit big, it wasn’t too big, it just has room to grow. We had dinner together, Sarah, Ryan, Tom, Audrey and I and it was the most fun I’ve had in a while. Audrey likes to take my jewelry and for some reason she decided that removing my eyeglass holder chain was the funniest thing in the world. She laughed, and I laughed just to see her laugh and then we were both laughing just because the other one was. Life just doesn’t get any better than that.

Audrey’s Hat

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I’ve been working on a secret project….Audrey’s Hat. As you can see from Sarah’s blog, Audrey loves to put things on her head. Her favorite thing is a tupperware toy that she pretends is her hat. That made me think that maybe I should make her a hat.

This hat had no design or pattern in mind, just play and relief for me after refurbishing kitchen floors everyday. So each day for the past 4 days, I’ve cut a little, sewn, agonized over fabrics, tossed my stash around and played. I didn’t take photos of the process because I didn’t think it would work, but I believe that I have a really cute hat here, and I can’t wait to give it to Audrey.

It was hard to make it without her here, to test for size. I used the bear, but he’s just not the same as a baby girl – lol 🙂

So, this weekend I shall see Audrey and give her my gift to her, her very own hat. It’s a secret though, so if you see her, don’t tell!

I am going to make another one and I’ll take photos as I go on that one.

Alaska Fiber Festival

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Sarah and I were invited to join the greatest group of gals for the opening night of the Alaska Fiber Festival in downtown Anchorage, Alaska. Here’s Sarah Raffuse signing a book for Lee.

It was just so wonderful to see the artistic ladies who organize this awesome event and it was so nice that they remembered me, from the days when I attended meetings with the Anchorage Log Cabin Quilters Guild (and they remembered Sarah because I used to drag her along when she was just a kid). Gail Ramsey, Deb Hardman, Jane Odgers, Roxane Stoner, Mary Hertert are some of the artists and organizers of an event that is so well worth attending.

The Festival is presenting lectures and classes by Kenneth King and Jennie Rayment and the First Friday Gallery walk was just a HUGE success! The artwork will be up until the 16th of March and there will be a Merchant Mall at the Phillips Atrium downtown on the weekend of the 15 & 16th.

I only had time to visit one gallery, Virtu, on 4th Ave across from the Post Office Mall/Sunshine Plaza and what an outstanding display of art they had!! I was told that all of the galleries on the walk were just as exciting and I wish that I had been able to stay longer to visit them all.

(I put up the second photo because the colors are better, but the photo is a bit blurry. The first photo is sharp, but the colors are off.)

Favorite Things

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I am going to do the Martha Stewart thing and post a few of my favorite (machine quilting) things. I’ve been machine quilting (home machine, longarm & midarm) for 13 yrs and have been teaching for about 10 yrs. I’ve used a lot of products over the years and I have developed some specific preferences. I am preparing to teach tomorrow and that brought this list to mind:

I love Warm & Natural batting for MQ – it’s flat and slightly stiff and that keeps it from bunching up when I’m trying to quilt. When washed it makes a nice soft quilt. I only use Sulky clear polyester for SID. The most important tool to keep nearby is a tiny screwdriver to change bobbin tension with and the cheapest one you can buy comes in an eyeglass repair kit. I love my Machingers Quilting Gloves – they are light, they let my skin breathe and the grippy tips are superb.

A flat surface is a must and you can build an area around your machine with many things. I’ve used heavy cardboard boxes with glossy surfaces and now I have my home-made dream desk and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. (How to build it here). Good lighting is a must and it’s cheap too. I buy 4′ long florescent hanging fixtures (shop lights) and I put daylight rated bulbs in them. I have 2 of these hanging over my sewing area. You can see them in this pic.

Meh

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This has been a “do stuff I have to (because I’ve been putting it off) instead of having fabric fun” week. Web stuff (I struggle with it), working on kitchen floors (2 kitchen floors this week – trust me, you don’t want to know the details). Yuk. My hands are sore & scraped and my attitude is not good.

Stashbusters group has a philosophy of “quilt (or sew) for 15 minutes a day, everyday” and it’s a good one. I haven’t touched my machine for 5 days and it feels like a year. Next week is all mine, with fabric fun every day – a promise to myself. I’ve been dreaming of those fabric bracelets and I have a few ideas I want to try out. Stay tuned 🙂

Fun with Flickr

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I created a photo set (which can be viewed as a slideshow) on Flickr (click here to see it) of portions of quilts in our book – some photos are of 1 square of the quilt, some have 4 squares. The photos aren’t great and I hope to re-do them soon.

Flickr is a photo sharing site owned by Yahoo! and I am learning to like it. Sarah uploads photos of my granddaughter (125 miles away) and I can see them immediately~~~I really like that!

Sarah Raffuse Blogs!

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My daughter and co-author, Sarah Raffuse, has started a blog. Hehehehehe. I knew that if I stole her pictures enough she’d start blogging herself 🙂 <—-happy mom smile!

On her post today she shows off one of her most favorite quilts, made with the Bella Nonna pattern and silk flowers (check out their stuff here). Their patterns are cute, cute, cute! And they are nice people, we always say hi & chat at Quilt Market.

So stop on by Sarah Raffuse’s Blog and say hi or just take a peek!

The Eagles have Landed

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Here are some eagles looking for food. The little bird in the middle is a dwarfed by the eagles.

The dark eagles are immature eagles; they have not developed the white feathers around their head and feet. They have sort of speckled brown feathers. The larger black birds in the photo below are ravens.

Here are a few more pics taken later in the day and with a much better camera.