Little Red School House

December must be the month for Red and Black Quilts.  I just finished quilting this Little Red Schoolhouse quilt for Barbara.  It will be a gift for her grandaughter Jade.  Just love how it turned out.

Lady Madonna in Red

  I have been so busy this holiday season with work and quilting for myself as well as others.  I did get one of my own quilts made.  This is a gift for someone...shhhhhhh can't say who just yet or it will spoil the surprise.  This was a very quick, easy and fun quilt to work on.

Easy Flying Geese

With this method geese will be flying off our machine!

 

Do you get tired of cutting rectangles and squares for your flying geese, putting them together and finding that the size is off by just "that much"? This technique for flying geese will guarantee you perfectly sized geese every time, with fewer corners to trim. I originally saw this technique on "Quilt in a Day".

Cut a square of fabric from each colour you want to use for your flying geese. For the interior, cut a square 1" larger than your unfinished flying geese will be. For example, if your flying geese are 3 x 1 1/2" finished (3 1/2 x 2 unfinished), then cut a square of your interior fabric 4 1/2" square. Cut a square of the background fabric 1 1/2" larger than your interior fabric square (6" square in this example).


Center the small square on top of the large one. Mark the diagonal and sew ¼” each size of the line you marked. Cut on diagonal and press towards large triangle.




Place the 2 squares right sides together, matching the top right and bottom left corners as shown. Seams will not match, but edges should. Mark diagonal and sew ¼” on each side again.



Cut on diagonal.





Clip seam at center, and press each half of seam toards background fabric.




Cut square in half, between the interior sections.







Press, and cut geese to finished size. Place the 1/4" mark of your ruler on the point, and cut the required rectangle for your finished flying geese.

These steps make 4 flying geese.

Making your own Spray Starch

Here’s how to make your own Spray Starch:

Measure a scant teaspoon of Argo Cornstarch or any other cooking type cornstarch.  Dissolve it in a few TBSP of cold water in a 2 cup glass measuring cup then add boiling water to the 1 cup line and stir until totally dissolved.  Add cold water to the 2 cup line.  Put in a fine mist sprayer.   (The kind you get from the beauty department of the drug store works best.  Be sure to label the bottle. 

Shake the bottle every time you spray.   If white flaking occurs dilute with additional water.  Shake well every time you spray.  The bottle of starch only lasts a week or so.  Make a fresh batch each week or when you start cutting and piecing a new project.  There are no preservatives, no chemicals, nothing that harms us or the environment. 

Don't starch fabrics for storage as I have heard it will attract critters such as silverfish, centipedes, and mice.   After you have finished binding your quilt it should be washed or rinsed to remove the starch.  I hear that lavender oil will keep the critters away, but I think washing the quilt is best.

Use spray starch before cutting fabrics to prevent distortion and fraying and add more when pressing seams.  If you spritz the fabric and press carefully parallel to the selvages of the fabric it will give it a wonderful body. Don't push and pull on the fabric with the iron; be gentle, let the weight and heat of the iron do the work for you.

Happy Quilting!!!!

Spiderweb Quilt for Halloween

I finally finished my spiderweb quilt.  The pattern is from Bonnie Hunter's site Quiltville.  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/string-spider-web.html

I learned alot from quilting this....about piecing!!!   This quilt took forever to piece and I'm glad to fnally have it finished!

Fall Table Runners!!!!

This has been the week for Wall Hangings and Table Runners.  I did 5 of them and they were really fun little projects.

Joanne's Primitive Garden Quilt

This is the most beautiful quilt that I have ever had the honor of quilting.  Joanne trusted me to quilt it for her.  I just hope I did it justice.