It's Christmas!!!! And Blog Hop Party Time!

As many of you probably know, Michele at the Quilting Gallery is leading the way in a GIANT Blog Hop Party with tons of giveaways. At last count she had almost 250 blogs participating.  The participating blogs will be listed over there tomorrow morning.

I figured "the more, the merrier..."

So....my contribution is this:

For one winner - pack of baby rick rack in EVERY COLOR!

For 2 winners - a 30's Charm Pack

For 4 winners - a twiddletails pattern of their choice.

Choose from:

or, of course,

Geese in the Forest

What do you have to do to win something?
For one chance, leave a comment on this post and tell me what your favorite color is.
For a second chance, hop on over to my Facebook page, and "Like" me over there.  Then come back and leave another post telling me. If you already like the Facebook page, just leave a second post lettting me know.

PLEASE make sure I have a way to contact you.  Quite a few giveaway winners have lost out in the past because their comments have no links.

(This giveaway ends at midnight PST on December 17th.)
Entries for the giveaway are now closed.

Focus, Focus, Focus

This seems to be my mantra lately.

Tax time is nearing, so during the day I'm doing this:

At night I've returned to the hexie quilt. It really looks like I'm only picking her up about once a year.

A conservative calculation has determined that I need AT LEAST 16 more "flowers" just to get her semi-square.

The (not so) Quick Tree Skirt

This was going to be a tutorial post for a quick little tree skirt. Two hours or so. Five hours later I was still not done.

If I hadn't decided to make my own bias binding...
Out of teenie scraps of fabric...

I could have showered, gotten dressed, driven to the store, bought some pre-made tape, had a leisurely lunch, and the project would still have been finished sooner than via the painful process I went through.

In short, what I did was:

Cut three circles - one out of focus fabric (from the 12 Days of Christmas collection), one out of batting, and one out of background fabric.
I folded the fabric in half and used a disappearing marker attached to a piece of string to draw a half circle.

Cut a little circle in the center.

Layered all three fabrics, pinned them together and stitched half an inch from the edge all around.  I also stitched two lines 1" apart from the center to the edge, so I could cut the opening without the layers shifting.

After that I made the aforementioned bias tape.  More than 100" of it!

Sewed on the tape.

Discovered that the hole in the top was too big and the skirt kept sliding down the tree trunk.  Inserted some elastic. Still too loose. Pulled the elastic tighter.  Yay!

Took probably an hour to figure out how to sew ties to the skirt. Don't ask...

Anyhow, I do like the way it turned out, so I suppose it was worth a lost Sunday.

(I made the little tree topper last year.  Instructions here.)

Really?

Tree Toppers Christmas Block

I'm today's designer in the Quilting Gallery's Celebrate Christmas Quilt-Along!

My block is called "Tree Toppers".

Download PDF Tutorial here
or
here

(If you can't download it, please email me at twiddletails(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll send it to you.)

When I designed the block I was quite convinced that the stars were classic star blocks but I haven't been able to find a star like this or a name for it anywhere!
The tutorial is pretty comprehensive but it does assume that you know how to make half square triangles and, I thought, the basic star. Apparently not.
So....here's a photo tutorial for making the squares that are the points of the stars.

First make a half square triangle (or two, since they come in pairs).

(You can find a more detailed tutorial for HST's here.)

Then cut two squares the color of the star, and the same size as the half square triangles.

Draw a diagonal line corner to corner on the wrong side of each square.

Place a square right sides together with a half square triangle.

Sew 1/4" away from the line on both sides.

Note how the seams are perpendicular to the seam on the half square triangle. (You can see it showing through the fabric in the photo.)

Cut along the drawn line and press open.

You will actually end up with 4 of these:

Another thing:
In this tutorial you will be cutting squares in multiple sizes.
To ensure that you don't get lost in a maze of squares, I recommend grouping them by size as you cut.
You can even label the little piles with Post-it's if you want, but I just laid them out from large to small:

The fabrics I used to make my block are:
Moda Marble Dots - Yellow
What a Hoot Dots - Green
Squiggle - Lime
Hallmark Christmas Snow Flake Circles - Blue
They are all available in the store.
I've also added the tutorial to the free patterns in the store, so you'll be able to access it at any time.

Don't forget to visit the Quilt-Along home page and have a look at all the other wonderful blocks!
Oh, and you can post photos of your blocks to the Flickr group and have a chance to win some very pretty buttons!

This is not all I'm doing

I promise.
I've spent couple of days getting my tutorial ready for the Quilting Gallery Celebrate Christmas Quilt-Along. (You can see little clues in the photo below.)

But at night, I work on Baltimore Christmas.
This block has more than 70 applique pieces!

In my last post I mentioned that I was having trouble getting smooth curves.
Thanks to everyone who sent their suggestions, especially Lynette.

The bottom line is that everything was just too big: my basting stitches, my seam allowances and, most importantly, my applique stitches.

Before

After

Not perfect yet, but I can live with this result. (Yes, I did have to redo 12 leaves!)
Another thing I learned was that not all fabric is created equal when it comes to applique. If the weave is too loose, there's a lot of fraying. If the weave is too tight, it gets doubly hard to get those curves smooth.

Remember to come back on Wednesday for my block tutorial.

Baltimore Progress

Working on Block 8 - "Mistletoe Wreath"

I find that I'm having trouble getting smooth curves using the backbasting technique. Any advice from the backbasters out there?

Baltimore Christmas - first block done!

Minus the eye. Still figuring out how to tackle a teenie circle.

(Estimated time spent making this block: 25 hours)

The Appliqué Station

Complete with TV remote and M&M's.

A little obsessed

Still having fun with back basting.
The block is a little wrinkled from all the handling. Maybe I should use a hoop.

Many people have asked about back basting. I thought I'd write a tutorial when I get the hang of it, but why reinvent the wheel?
Marjorie has an amazing tutorial on her blog: http://appliqueaddict.blogspot.com/
Just look in the top right corner. Thanks for sharing your knowledge Marjorie!

I really need to focus!

I used to be organized and focused but in the last year or so I've become a little scattered with a very short attention span.

Last night I played around with my new iPad (love it!) and a free sketching app.

I'm no artist but I don't think this is too bad for an hour or two's work.
Maybe I should just embrace the "new me".

(If you have an iPad, I used the free version of Sketchbook Pro but I may buy the full version. I love it so far.
I did all the line drawings as well as the coloring on the girl with my finger. Don't you just love how her hair and her hat become one?
I bought a stylus and colored the spools using that.)

Hand Appliqué

I've been on a quest to find the best and most accurate hand appliqué technique for a couple of years. Unsuccessfully.

When I started the Baltimore Christmas quilt back in March, I decided to try using plastic templates. Bad idea. The pieces are so small that the little bit of bulk the plastic adds enlarges the sections so much that they won't fit.

I was very discouraged. And gave up.

This weekend at our local quilt show, I spoke to a lady who was working on a beautiful hand appliqué project. And had actually made this quilt.
She recommended that I try backbasting.

I think I may have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
I've got a couple of kinks to sort out (thread, needles, etc.) but I like it. I really like it.

Back from Houston

I'll be sharing photos soon. In the mean time, this is what I spent every spare moment in Houston working on.  Because I've become an expert procrastinator.

It's a challenge quilt for my local quilt guild's show this weekend. And it was due yesterday.
The inspiration is supposed to be the "Red Poppy" painting by Georgia o'Keeffe. Not sure how successful that was.

Please excuse the poor photo quality and the magnets. It's dreary outside and the only white surface I could find with some decent-ish light was the refrigerator.

Hexie Happiness

Making wonderful progress on the mini hexie challenge quilt.
This is the top basically done. I'm going to remove all the white hexies. They're really distracting.
It's supposed to be a little art-quilt-y, so I think it'll work.

Tiles or Scales?

I had to make a fish-themed block as part of a gift quilt.
Trying to find appropriate fabrics, I found these yellow "Roof Tiles".

Amazing how taking something out of context can sometimes change your perception.

Getting distracted

I have SO much to do. A quilt to finish for a quilt show. Getting ready for Houston. Finding/making a Halloween costume. Cleaning the house.  Doing the dishes. Redoing the guest bathroom.

Instead, I make hats.
I was at the store looking for blunt-nosed scissors to take on the plane, but got distracted by this lovely cotton yarn.
And had to make something.

(It's a baby hat.  Size 12-18 months.)

Little Storage Binder

I have had a couple of questions about the little binder in the photo in yesterday's post.

I love that little binder.
I received it as a gift from Brenda (the Dear Jane lady) a couple of years ago.

The little "ziplocked" pockets are 8.5" x 5" in size and perfect for little projects like my 1/2" hexies.
(The poppy is my inspiration picture for the little challenge quilt.)

So, you want to know where Brenda found this little binder?

Bass Pro Shops.  That's where!
It's a little worm/tackle binder.

I looked around on their web site and I think mine is the large bag here: $11.99!
If this was a "quilting accessory" it would probably cost $29.99 at least.
I hadn't seen the double bag until I started scouring the web site and I think I may need one.

After Brenda sent me the little binder, I did buy myself a bigger one.  This one. It has bigger zip bags (7.5" x 9") and more storage for scissors, thread and such but only has one handle which makes it kind of hard to carry.
(You want the "Finesse" bag, not the "Extreme".)

If you hop over to Bass Pro Shops, tell them I sent you. Maybe I'll get commission...
Yeah right!

Off to go order the double bag now, since I have the page open and all.

Edited: OMG! Search for "hard tackle boxes". I think I need this.

Getting things done

My current small WIPs. It feels so good to be sewing again!

A New Project

I seem to be starting a lot of projects lately and not finishing many. Maybe it's time to get working on the WIPs...

This one I have to finish because it's my challenge entry for our local quilt show. Yes, I know it seems a little back-to-front, but I entered it before making it. Yes I did.

The challenge is to make a small quilt inspired by a painting.
I'll share the inspiration soon.

Batik Jane

I'm not doing much myself right now, but a friend and I went "Stash Dashing" on Friday.
As you may or may not know, I'm a little obsessed with Dear Jane quilts.
This one is made with batiks.
Stunning!

(It is on display at Heirloom Quilts in Poulsbo, WA.  The lady who made it works there but did not want to pose for a photo. Hats off to her for this absolutely lovely work of art!)

It's Fall Y'all!

There's no more denying it.

This was my Saturday project:

I used my pattern for the Street Scene pillow.

Here's the trick for fussy cutting.

Make a template frame with an opening the desired size of your finished section. I taped two pieces of card stock together.

Move this around on your fabric until you find a "picture" you like.

Use a disappearing marker to trace along the inside of the template. Remove the template and cut the fabric 1/4" outside the marked lines.

(Center and border fabrics are from the Farmyard collection. Red and green sashings are Wee Woodland stripes.)

A Little Busy

It's done though. And I'm OK with it. I think once it's quilted it will be very pretty.
In the end I decided to use the striped fabric as sashing rather than borders for the blocks. This involved some seam ripping but made it a more manageable size.
Now I just have to decide on a border.