Anna Marie Horner Mini Quilt Swap & Slow Stiching Sunday

Earlier this year, I signed up for the Anna Marie Horner Mini Quilt Swap on Instagram. Kate Basti is hostessing, and past members had such nice things to say about her swaps. I'd never been in one of any kind, but AMH! I had to! She was one of the first designers whose style attracted me back to quilting. The past minis from other swaps were gorgeous. Wow! These were some talented sewists, and I was worried I wouldn't measure up.

I ordered a fat quarter package of 'Folk Song',
and pulled out my high tech design tools--a pencil and some paper. This was the original drawing I started with, and I kept true to it. I integrated a few Missouri Star Quilt Co. templates I had purchased, but never used. I have to tell you these weren't made to be used together, and I had to do some tweaking at the corner diamonds.

I have one last line of hand quilting to stitch with my Aurifil 50#, and I feel like the teal corners need a bit of the coral and pink pearl cottons. Then it's time for binding, and I have a print in mind already.

#annamariehornerminiquiltswap 

#teamhonorroll 

#katebasti

#pinkdoxies

You might remember my cell phone and camera sling bag was made with the same fabric line, and another AMH I had in my stash.

I brought my mini home to work on thinking some slow stitching would be a nice change. It's been a busy week, and there's something theraputic about working with your project on your lap instead of zipping it through a machine. You see your work differently.

I've also wanted to link up to the Slow Sunday Stitching for some time. Kathy is a Canadian quilter after my own heart. She is also a scrapaholic, and is involved in quilting for Mennonite Central Committee. 

I haven't made any quilts for the auction like she has, but the women at First Mennonite Church in Sugarcreek do. They are an inspiring group. They meet every week to hand quilt on frames, while others ladies make utility quilts. These are gathered together in one location, packed, and sent to areas of the world where there is need. I machine bound two for them, and they will soon be on their way to a family in need. The scrappy ladies make sure they are colorful, cheery, and warm.

Thunderstorm pounded our area today, and I unplugged all my machines to make sure they weren't hit. We've lost small appliances before, and I've started unplugging my multi-strips when I leave for the day. It only takes a moment.

I spent the time cleaning up, and finishing some Moda Modern Building Blocks. You can see I filled the center of the largest block here, but I'm not satisfied with the inside grey. I think I'll replace it with the hanging print. 

By all rights, I should have thought through the whole project before starting blocks, but I was so excited to just make something! Now I'm hitting a wall, and have second thoughts about the palette. I'm not sure I like the colors I'm using, but I've been trying to follow the recommended solids as closely as possible. I may need to tweak it.

The last picture to share is the new/old stash on my floor. I went to a friend's house last week for a little fabric swap. Oo-la-la!

I know these don't look like my typical picks, but there are some projects in the Quilt Lovely book that beg for some vintage fabric. 

I'm interested obsessed in blending my vintage and modern stashes, and need to prove to myself it will work in projects. Jen Kingwell does it, and I am looking forward to learning how. 'Mrs. Bannister's Stars' pillow project starts today.

What's your plan for the month of June? Are you having a holiday weekend now, and enjoying some well earned family time? Do you have an idea for a project to be ready for July 4th? Are you working on your finishes for A Lovely Year of Finishes? Or, perhaps, Q2 Finish-Along for On the Windy Side?

Leave a comment to inspire your fellow sewists to get active in their creative space, and Be Makers this month! I applaud you all.

Link up with the Pink Doxies' Pet Project Show until Monday at midnight, and show off your latest make.

Come on, Doxie girls.

Let's go sew.

Linking up with~
Cooking Up Quilts
Hug-a-Bit Quilts
Show and Tell Monday
Molli Sparkles
Slow Stitching Sunday

Pet Project Show #22

These are a few of my Moda Modern Building Blocks I've been working on. I'm not sure I'll make the whole quilt, but I've been having fun doing BIG blocks. You can see the 8.5"x11" paper hanging there, but the 3" Post-It Note in the middle of the largest block can show you the enormity of the blocks. I had to stop piecing blocks, and order a 24" ruler to keep things square and accurately measured. 

I've tried to stay true to the pattern colors, but used prints instead of the suggested solids. Check out some of the great makes of the pattern here.

I thought it would be fun to share a few other blogs that I've been following, and seem to have kept open in my tabs this week. For some reason or another, I've been reading across genres. Not all are quilting blogs, but you may find they interest you, too.

A Typical English Home: Not exactly what you'd think. Yes, good ideas for organization, fun projects, etc., but good tutorials for bloggers on how to add icons, fonts, etc. 

Generations Quilt Patterns: I just happened on this page this week, and I'm impressed at the free patterns, but also on the helpful hints on machine tension, free motion quilting for beginners, and a very detailed tutorial on stitching in the ditch. I wish I'd seen this before my first try at that. Thread recommendations are given for different projects. This feels like a personal lesson in all things quilt related. 

Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires: Inspirational, personal, thought-provoking blog on faith and art. I have really enjoyed her writing on "Thin Places," where the Boundaries between the Spiritual and Physical World are Almost Transparent. She also writes about balancing blogging with our personal lives. It's very good.

A Beautiful Mess: Okay, it runs from fashion, clothes, decorating, food, crafts, whew! It's How-To for everything. There are oodles of posts each week. It's light and fun with lots of eye candy.

Woohoo, Doxie Girls!

It's Saturday, and time for the weekly 

Pink Doxies 

Pet Project Show. 

Add your link here every Saturday. 

Rules

Do we have to have rules? 

No worries! It's EASY.

1. Use the blue 'Add Your Link' button (below)
to upload a picture of something you've created 
in the past week. Any kind of handiwork--
share it now! It can be a work in progress, 
finally finished, or even your fab new fabric. 
Whatever it is that inspired you to create this 
week, we'd like to see it here. 

2. Please link to a specific post, and not just your
blog address. It makes it easy for anyone following 

your link to find the project.

3. Provide a backlink to Pink Doxies with a link in
your post, or pick up our Pet Project Show
button in the sidebar. Copy the code, then 
create a Pet Show widget with 'Add by HTML' 
on your Layout page.

-OR-

1. You can link up to your Instagram. 
Click on the Instagram icon at the bottom 
of the link up screen. The URL of your Instagram 
feed will be your link. 
Please hashtag #pinkdoxiespetproject

Either way you link up, remember it's a party
here, so schmooze with the crowd! Visit others 
who've linked up. Leave a comment so they 
know what you like about their work. 

Don't miss a post! 

Follow me on Bloglovin' or by email. 

The Linky Party starts now, and runs until
Monday, June 1st at midnight. 

Spread the word, and tell all your stitchy friends.

*The first Saturday party of each month will
feature several of the Doxies' and my
favorite link ups. 
By linking up, you are giving permission for me
to post your picture with a link back to your 

blog or Instagram account. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Allison Glass Friday Finish

I sat down with a timer set for half an hour, determined
to finish the quilting. When the alarm rang, I had to run.
Back in the afternoon, I put on some soothing music,
and as you would have guessed, it started to be fun.
There was a moment of disappointment when I ran
out of empty space to quilt. After all that drama!

The light makes the back appear as if there is a lot of
bunching, but there's not. The are one or two little places
near the edge where it's not 'perfect'. If I was marketing 
this quilting, I would tear it out, and fix it. 

I changed my sandwiching process this time. I taped my
backing down to the concrete floor first. The ironed
batting was next, and also held with its own tape. Then 
the top, and also taped. All layers were taut. I used
large saftey pins, and not even quilter's pins at that,
to hold everything securely. I pinned about 5-6" apart.
This was much more successful than spray basting
on this size quilt, but I know I still need to use more
pins toward the edges next time.

My machine sits on top of a table, and I believe having
it countersunk would be a vast improvement in the 
ability to move the quilt around. I might have to ask 
for help with that one.

I was very happy with the stitching by the end.

 The late afternoon sun threw some heavy shadows,
but there aren't really big wrinkles there.

Two of the girls have had to break it in already. It passed.

Today I'm going to a friend's house for a fabric swap.
It reminds me of when I was little trading Barbie clothes.
I'm taking some fabrics that aren't my favorites in colors
she's looking for, and hoping she has some odd things
I'm looking for. 

Doesn't that sound like fun? That way you not only shop your own stash, but someone else's, too. Frugal and effective.

Today's Tips
Today's tips for navigating on the new Pink Doxie page. 

Use your keyboard letters j and k to move between posts. If you simply use your keyboard letter j, it will take you to a previous post. Tapping the letter k will take you to the next.

Any of the pictures are clickable, and will take you to that post.

Stop back tomorrow for the Pet Project Show. The linky will
open at midnight tonight EST, and run through midnight on
Monday night. Show us your pet project of the week.

Until then...
Come on, Doxie girls.
Let's go sew.

Linking up~
Blossom Heart Quilts
Sew Can She
WIDTW
Fort Worth Fabric Frenzy
Quilt Shop Gal
TGIFF
Crazy Mom Quilts
Free Motion Mavericks
LAFF
Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Allison Glass Quilt & the Inner Brat

Friend to me: "How's the quilt going?"

Me to friend: "It's going."

That's how I'm feeling about this one. 

I'm very thankful to have it well underway, but the

tiniest displeased with the FMQ. I really wanted a 

large looping design on it, but it isn't physically

possibly with my sit-down Janome. All I can manage 

are smaller loops, and you should see how I'm 

hunched down in my chair to see under the machine 

arm. I'm spoiled by my one episode using a long arm. 

It's awful. I should be working on it. It would

only take a few hours to get the whole quilt done.

But have you ever had your Inner Child, the bratty one, 

throw a hissy fit while your logical self says to suck it

up, and get it done? My daughter say this is definitely a 

First World Problem, and she's right. Time to discipline 

that unruly voice, and to say with gratitude I'm 

sincerely thankful for all the blessings in my life. 

I am thankful.

My backing is creatively pieced, and looks a bit

like it fell out of the 80's, but most of it is excess.

There should be just the smallest border around

the edges of the backing. The center is a pale

grey in the same tightly woven fabric as the front.

You can see I've left plenty of room. I learned my 
lesson on the "Chicago, 2007" QST quilt when I 
shorted the length by an inch, and had to add fabric 
after the quilting was finished.

I quilted this with an Iris thread in a citrus green. I love

working with colored threads, and my supply is starting to 

move across the palette. Defy rules that state your thread should always be one shade darker than your background. These days, all but the most traditional quilters are comfortable saying the lines are blurred on 'what works' for them. The only area I stay away from purchasing is varigated. It's not that I haven't been happy with my quilts done in varigated thread, but once you've purchased them, they are definitely harder to match with another 

quilt top.

I'm about 1/3 or more done with this, and it would
make sense to get it finished today. The problem is
that awful Moda company sold a pattern called
Modern Building Blocks, and it's not my fault it
sucked me in. 

We will have to have a talk about 
that sometime soon--after I quiet my Inner Child.

Until then...
Come on, Doxie girls.
Let's go sew.

Linking up with~
My Quilt Infatuation
Quilting Jet Girl

Kate Spain Soft Tote Finish a.k.a. A Lesson in Laminate Sewing

A quick finish to report for my Q2 Finishes 
On the Windy Side.



Here's my pile of fabric. This was a learning project, 
too, because the Kate Spain fabric on the bottom is 
a laminated cotton. I had never sewn with it, and 
when I got a little less than a yard of it on clearance, 
it was a chance to try without a big investment.



Bag construction is pretty basic to most, but a 
few people have recently asked how to box out 
the bottom. I'll show you how to to get an even 
box, which doesn't always happen when 
I just eyeball it.

Once the sides are sewn, mark the same
distance to the top and side of a lower corner. 
Here I've used 3" each way.

Turn the bag so the side and bottom seam are
on top of each other. If you haven't sewn a bottom
seam, which I prefer, use your ruler to square it up 
like shown. You align the side seam with a vertical 
mark on your ruler, and match the dots on each 
side of the bottom. Pin, and draw your line.

It should look like this. If I was doing a small bag,
I would cut this excess off because it would just
add bulk. I tend to keep it on a large bag, and 
just fold it under to the bottom. It adds stability
to the corner, and an additional layer should 
the bag start to wear through.

Next I made the liner for the bag with the same 
construction process. I used the same
measurements for width exactly, but added about 
4" for a fold over band. The width got me into a 
pickle, and I'll show you why in a bit. I've found if 
I cut my liner width about 1/2" smaller, it fits better 
at the end. Think of nesting bowls.

Here is where I started to learn my lesson about 
laminated fabrics. They are not smooth like 
regular cotton. It wasn't as much of a problem 
catching on the machine surface or presser foot 
I could see, but was very apparent in the stitching 
in the handle below.

I saw no other way around my handle problem, 
so I used a little more contrast fabric to cover 
my laminated fabric. The laminate added weight 
inside instead of strapping, and I could sew it all together.

This handle had to be ripped out, and notice the 
fabric didn't 'recover'. The stitching holes were 
still visible even after I misted the fabric, and 
lightly pressed from the WRONG side. Do
not iron laminated fabric from the right side!
It will ruin your fabric and your iron.

The next dilemma was how to sew the handles

onto the bag with the laminate on the bottom. I grabbed

a scrap, and positioned it under the laminate so things 

would slide on the bottom as I sewed at the top.

Here's the view from the top side. At this point, the 
lining was still free of the bag. I wanted the handle 
seams hidden on the inside so it looked polished. 
First stitching, sew with the handles facing down 
toward the inside of the bag. (The white is the liner.)

Fold the handles up covering the raw seam,
and stitch all around for security.

 
This is what I had so far. The lining was pinned 
at the side, and sewn down at the patches only.

I was excited to be so nearly finished. My daughter 
stopped in for a look, and asked if this bag was
staying with us. Please? I knew it was a hit then.

I brought the excess liner over the top to cover 
my orange patches, and did a quick pin around. 
It puckered. A lot! I repinned. It still puckered. 

 So, I did a quick fix by taking in my liner seams by 
about 1/4" on each side, and not too far down.

That was all it needed. I pinned the liner in place where 
I knew the pin holes would notshow on the finished 
piece, and sewed. Then I went back and sewed the 
handlesall the way to the top edge, and finished
with an edge stitch around the top.

This is a bit of a less structured bag without interfacing, 
but the laminate would not have withstood the heat to 
bond, and I'm not a lover of sewn-in interfacing. It's 
proven to be a workhorse so far while loaded.

One thing I've been toting around is a new book called 
Little Quilts. Lisa in Port Hope posted her sweet mini 
from it on the Pet Project Show a few weeks ago, and I 
had to hunt it down. So many neat ideas here!

Trying new things is fun for me. I'm not afraid of 
change, but sometimes it takes getting used to. There's
a new look to the blog, as I'm sure you've noticed. I'll 
give a little tutorial on some of the features the next
time we talk. For today, notice these fancy-shmancy 
buttons below. This is where you can find all the ways 
to follow Pink Doxies in one hexie-spot. If you don't 
know what they all are, just click. They don't bite 
like Doxies.

Come on, Doxie girls.
Let's go sew.

Linking up with~
Q2 Finishes on the Windy Side
Sew Fresh Quilts
Freshly Pieced