FMQ in PDX

Am I too into free-motion quilting? Possibly. I made these stickers and I think I'm going to put one of them on my car. My husband should love that.

Marital bliss aside, if you live in Portland, I dearly hope to see your shining face this week. There's two ways we could make that happen.

First, I'm the guest speaker at this Thursday's PMQG meeting. This is such an honor. I get so excited when I get to teach something that I feel really passionate about. It's the best feeling. Thank you PMQG!

Second, book release free-motion quilting event! We're going to have a little party at Modern Domestic. Would you like to try your hand at free motion quilting for a few minutes? Would you like to see me do free motion quilting for a few minutes? Would you like some advice on finishing a quilt top you're stuck on? Or maybe you just want to watch me squirm when someone asks me to sign my book because I still feel on some deep level that one must not write in books? All these things can be yours at Modern Domestic, Friday 9/20, 6-8pm.  Seriously, come lay down some thread with me. Is that a saying? Let's make it a saying. Lay down some thread. You don't have to do any stitching of course, but if you want to, you totally should.

We'll have some copies of the book at both events, so if you like to buy local, you're covered! I'll even give you one of my FMQ stickers if you want one. Have a great weekend all!

Scraptacular quilted wristlet

Anytime I'm left with a little quilted scrap from a project, I save it. I can't really say I advise this sort of hoarding. I've amassed a box full of flotsam waiting for months (years?) on end to be turned into something worthwhile. 

But today, folks! Today I don't look like a weirdo who can't throw things away. No! Today I am the wizard who knew there was life in those little scraps. Today I'm the mad genius who cobbled them into a franken-wristlet. Today rocks. 

I joined my little pieces into panels using 1" strips. I ended up not needing all the pieces, so I suppose that means I'll be making another one!

It's the first time I've gone all the way with using a clasp for the strap, it's not hard at all and it makes the bag look so classy. Or, it would have made the bag look so classy if I'd taken a little more time making the corners look good. Ah well, sleep is important too. 

Thanks all for the delighted comments about using a print fabric for FMQ practice. I'm glad you think it's a good idea, too! The random number generator chose #10, Terri Hessler, to receive that pretty fat quarter of "Koi scalloped edge".  Happy stitching everyone. 

Stitching on Koi - plus giveaways!

I think using a print fabric as a guide for free motion quilting is a great way to get a little practice coordinating your hands without being responsible for choosing the quilting design. There's a project in my book that utilizes this technique. I have been keeping an eye out for in-stock fabrics that would work well for this project, or for anyone needing an easy bit of free-motion-quilting practice.

This pretty fabric, Koi Scalloped Edge from Cloud9 Fabrics fit the bill. Look at those nice spaces between the scallop shapes. Just perfect for stitching around!

I stitched following the curves of the dotted scallops. The colorful scallops didn't line up as easily for stitching around them. 

I tried to stop on the peak of the curve when I needed to reposition my hands. 

It looks good from the back too! 

I'd asked Cloud9 Fabrics for a fat quarter of this print to show it all stitched up. They sweetly gave me the fat quarter I asked for, and another one in a different color way. Bonus fabric! Let's have a giveaway! If you'd like to be in the giveaway for a fat quarter of this print in grey, just leave a comment on this post. The giveaway is now closed.

Also, there is a giveaway of First Steps to Free-Motion Quilting going on over at Sarah's blog, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, through Thursday. Hop on over quick and enjoy how very much this amazing lady gets done. Seriously, it's like light speed. She's already made three of the projects from the book! Plus quilted probably twenty quilts this week. I am forever in awe. Hope everyone has a great week. 

Sweetness

I have to say, after working on it for a year, then waiting for a year, having this book alllllmost out is the most fun I've had in a long time. Getting to give it to my friends. Having my grandma leave a teary voicemail when she saw the book was dedicated to her. Sitting with my husband as he looked through it, slowly, one page at a time. Utter sweetness. I love this part.

I made these little lollipops to give out at speaking events. The "instructions" make me grin every time I see them.

My daughter is delirious that we have hundreds of lollipops in the house. It's an exciting time for everyone, not just me!

I also have hundreds of these little postcards to spread the word about my book. I've given out a lot but now I'm worried the remainder might never leave my sewing room. So here is a little plea for help: If you have a free-motion quilting class you teach, or a quilt group you lead, or a fabric store you work at, and you would be able to get these little promo postcards into the hands of interested quilters, can I send you some? If you'd like to help, send me an email (afewscraps@gmail.com) and let me know how many you might be able to distribute in the next month or so. I'll get them in the mail to you, and include a couple of the lollipops too! All claimed! Thank you generous quilters!

Hope you are all enjoying the richness of summer. The little one's nap is almost over and then we're off to enjoy some fresh air.

I'm blogging about a thimble

I had to ask myself when I sat down to write this post, am I the kind of person who blogs about a thimble? The unavoidable answer is... yes. Yes, I am. Read it and weep, interwebs.

Here's the thing about thimbles: they're obnoxious. They make my finger sweaty. I have to take them off to do anything like knot threads or use my scissors. Thimbles fall off, they look silly. You know what I'm talking about. So, even when I have a thimble I usually don't use it. I push that needle with my thumbnail until it aches.

One day while hand sewing I noticed that not only was my thumbnail sore, but so was the knuckle of my middle finger. Here I thought I was a thumbnail pusher, but no! I instinctively start to push the needle with my knuckle but then switch to my thumbnail because, of course, pushing with the bare knuckle hurts. Hmmm. A thimble that went just around the knuckle would be so much more elegant than one over the whole fingertip, wouldn't it? I started looking closely at the notions section of the fabric store.

Here is what I selected.

That little green string pulled out immediately. That's fine, because fixing it allowed me to adjust it to fit just-snug-enough on my knuckle. In addition to making the thimble tighter, I also pulled off the little plastic piece (it's not even glued on, it just pops off). That makes the thimble more pliable and easier to wear with the dimples on the side of the knuckle, which is precisely where I push the needle.

Caution: removing the plastic backing is removing the thing that protects you if a needle goes through the leather. I've only had the needle push through the leather once and it was with a very skinny needle that I was pushing way too hard on. Consider yourself warned.

 So, to any other knuckle pushers out there, that's my hot tip. Free your fingertips! Save your thumbnails! Get knuckle thimbles!

Poly Pockets (see through zipper pouch tutorial)

Oh the toys in this house. The teeny tiny choking hazards. The drawers full of "stuff" that I did not buy. When there is too much clutter the kids can't even see the toys they have. They become blind from the mess and they bother their mama because they, tragically, cannot figure out how to play. Unacceptable.

The solution was to surreptitiously take away about 70% of the toys. Anything they hadn't played with in the last 2 weeks, pulled and stored or donated. Instant improvement in both the order and the playing in the house. I also made sure that the toys that remained could be seen, because with little people: out of sight, out of mind. So these little see through zipper pouches were created to contain the sprawling disaster that is Polly Pockets.

I was so darn impressed when I made the first one that I did it again and again. And I made a tutorial because I love you and I don't want you stepping on little doll heads in the middle of the night either.

What you need:
A quilted piece the size you want your zippered pouch (I quilted a piece about 10 x 10 and cut it to 9 x 9)
A zipper wider than your quilted piece
A piece of clear vinyl the size of your quilted piece
A width-of-fabric strip 2.25" wide for the binding

How you do it:

Center the zipper face down on the top vinyl edge and sew it on. About sewing with vinyl: Sew with a longer than usual stitch length, keep the vinyl on the bottom where the feed dogs can pull it through, and avoid pressing it onto the machine bed in any way, or it will stick. I guess someone has developed a special presser foot for sewing vinyl. Please. I don't have the money for that. So I sew with the vinyl on the bottom.

Place the zipper face down on what will be the back of your zip bag. Did you read that right? The back. The side you don't want to see. I know you're about to sew it to the side you do want to see (because I almost did that every time) and that's how you make a normal bag but this is a see through bag. Double check. Align with the vinyl and sew it on.

Now you've got this, looking at the underside of the zipper. I trimmed away a bit of batting from the seam allowance and then stitched down the zipper edge to cover that raw batting at the top. Not necessary for a glorified ziplock, but it made me happy.

Fold the vinyl down over the quilted piece. To make binding easier, baste around the sides and bottom of the bag. It doesn't have to go all the way to the zipper. Move the zipper head to the middle of the bag (so you don't cut it off) and trim the zipper ends even with the edge of the bag.

Finish by binding the three unfinished edges of the bag. Press your binding strip in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. Sew it to the backside of the pouch, wrapping the end of the binding snugly around the top to the front when you start. I advise you eek the binding end out to the side a bit to make it behave when you turn it to the front. Do you see how the raw edge of the binding is sticking out beyond the raw edge of the quilted piece at the end there? That's what I mean by "eek". When you get to the other end, do the same, wrapping the end around the top of the zipper and eeking it out to the side.

After attaching the binding, the front of the bag should look like this. Trim the corners and the binding that sticks out.

Now flip the binding around to the front and machine stitch at the edge. This is the only time I didn't sew with the vinyl on the bottom, but because the presser foot is really on top of the fabric there wasn't any trouble.

Check out that corner!

These little pouches also work well for wrangling sewing tools to sewing events. But around here there are still plenty of marbles and rock collections and hedgehog families that need containing, so you know what I'll be doing with mine!

I hope some of you get some use out of this tutorial. I am getting really excited that my book is about to be released in just a few weeks! More on that soon, I'm sure.

Nesting Buckets class at Modern Domestic

Just a quick and happy announcement: I'm teaching a free-motion quilting class next month at the spacious, lovely and well-lit Modern Domestic! If you live in the Portland area I hope you will check it out!

Use Modern Domestic's Machine or your own. If you use theirs, you can quilt with or without the Bernina Stitch Regulator. It should be fun!