Another secret tote bag swap and more Godstone Grannies

I signed up for Lia's Handmades fourth Secret Tote Bag Swap. The theme is Summertime! I chose to work with osnaburg because it looks like linen and linen is definitely a summertime fabric! I've tried to incorporate many of the things that my partner said she liked. I've been posting pictures but she hasn't left any comments so I'm hoping I'm on the right track! This is the first pull of fabrics, some of which I am using and others not!

To start I tracied the pattern for the front and back of the bag on osnaburg and then I quilted it with straight lines. I made a pile of hexagons in bright summertime colours and prints and am now in the process of appliqueing them to the panel. I used the straight quilting lines to align all of the hexagons and I used my Roxanne Glue Baste-It to hold them in place before stitching them down. I have several hexagons that still need to be stitched down but once they are done the rest of the construction process should go quickly.

I repeated the same process for the other side of the bag. My next step will be to make the side panels and outside pockets. I'll use more osnaburg for the side panels and a nice summertime print, likely in a pretty aqua blue or turquoise, for the outside pockets. The bag is the 241 Tote by Noodlehead. It is a simple pattern with excellent instructions.

 I want to add some embellishment so there might be a grasshopper like this one tucked in there somewhere! Grasshoppers have appeared in many of my quilts and tote bags! They are a little bit of a personal signature of mine. If you would like to make your own bug I published a little tutorial for stitching these little creatures and you will find it here.

This is a grasshopper that I slipped in another tote bag

I hid this little grasshopper in my quilt  Lazy Punk

I continue to work on the Godstone Grannies (GG) blocks. Making good progress but I need more time because I've got so much to do! This block is one of two filler blocks for the top and bottom. Both are now stitched together.

Look what happened when I tried to take a picture of the second GG block! Mr. Nosy cat (Forest Gumby) had to see what I was doing! I just don't understand what it is with cats and quilts! SCAT cat!!!!!

Here is the block without the Gump! This is one of two blocks and both are now stitched.

Well my tea is getting cold and I've got some sewing to do so until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H

A new tiny world teacup pincushion and a New Tutorial: Hop to it!

I recently purchased four tiny Wedgewood cups at the local thrift shop and I though they would be perfect for more tiny world make-do pincushions. But what comes in fours? The seasons of course!

Here is the first season, Autumn!

I embroidered leaves on the ground with some lovely variegated floss.

The other three seasons are in the works. If you would like to win a free copy of the Mimi Kirchner Make-Do Tiny World Pincushion pattern so you can make your own scroll down to the bottom of this post to find out how to enter.

It is nice to hide surprises in quilts. My Mom will hide a coin in the quilt sandwich (the year on the coin is the year the quilt was made). I like hiding things like initials or grasshoppers! They are a little surprise for the recipient of the quilt. And my favourite surprise is a grasshopper like this little fellow or a cricket!

 

I made quilts for two children and told them I hid a grasshopper in each quilt. They had loads of fun searching for their grasshoppers! Do you remember my Lazy Girl quilt top? I thought it would benefit from a hidden grasshopper so today I'll demonstrate how I make them!

I love this fabric because it is loaded with all sorts of interesting flowers and leaves that can easily be converted into "bugs" - a veritable metamorphosis!

I cut out the portion of the fabric I want to use for he body making sure to leave a seam allowance of roughly 1/8" all around.

I pin the body where it will be stitched being sure the tip the back end down a little. I often for a colour that is similar to the grasshopper so it is camouflaged!

I needle-turn appliqué the body in place. I'll use two strands of two colours of floss to embroider the legs and antennae. I like red and green but you can use whatever colours tickle your fancy!

First step is to use two strands of red floss to stitch a line for the thigh.

Next I use two strands of green floss to stitch all around the red line to make a nice chubby thigh!

For the last part of the hind leg I stitch the shin and a little foot pointing backwards. I weave my floss through the stitches on the wrong side and bring my needle up through the fabric just a little ahead of the thigh.

I stitch the next little leg and then weave my floss through the stitches on the wrong side and bring my needle up near the front where I will stitch the third and final leg.

 

Once the leg is stitched I weave my floss through the stitches on the wrong side and bring my needle up through the head just below the edge.

 

I stitch the antenna and then weave my floss through the stitches on the wrong side and bring my needle up just a little in front of the first antenna right at the edge of the applique.

 

 I stitch the last antenna and I am done!

 

 

You can always use your Sakura Pigma pens to add details such as an eye or shading or you could add a little bead for an eye!

 

Here are some examples of the grasshoppers that I've added to quilts and other projects.

 

There was a little knick in the backing fabric of my quilt Centre Ice so I covered it up with a grasshopper. So little hidden appliqués can be used to cover mistakes! Read about how my Mom used killer bees to camouflage some problems.

 

 

This one was hidden in Orange Crush. If you visit my Patterns by Karen H tab you will find a free pattern for this quilt.

 

 

This critter is hiding in a tote bag. I used variegated thread for the antennae!

 

 

 This one is hiding in my Lazy Punk quilt.

 

 

And one last grasshopper with and inchworm and a bee and from my quilt Flora and Fauna, Parts of the Garden. Want to make a bee? Read all about it here!

 

 

And now here's the info about my give-away! You could win a Tiny World Make-Do Pincushion pattern from Mimi Kirchner. Mimi posted pictures of her newest teacup pincushions on her blog. To enter the draw for the pattern go my November 21 post and leave a comment!  I will reply to each comment so if you don't hear back from me it is likely because you are a no reply/anonymous blogger so you'll need to provide an email address in your comment in a format such as name(at)emailhost(dot)com. The winner will be announced on November 27th!

 

For now I want to get back to my Love Entwined quilt so until I post again, happy sewing!







It's give-away time and a new tiny world make-do pincushion

Close-up of mushrooms and grasshopper in Flora and Fauna, Parts of the Garden

It is day one of Quilting Gallery's Blog Hop Party With Give-Aways and I am a participating blogger. This means I have a lovely give-away that you could win (more about it in a little bit). If you got to my blog via Quilting Gallery you already know about this event. If you are here because you follow my blog just click on the Blog Hop Party With Give-Aways button on the right side bar and you will be taken to a list of all participating blogs (the list will be up in the late afternoon on November 21). Every participating blog will have its own a give-away. What fun and it is a great opportunity to discover new blogs and maybe win a prize!

My blog is less than a year old and I hope you have enjoyed what I've done so far. Have you had a chance to read my booklets on English paper piecing? If not check them out under the tab English Paper Piecing and Hexagon Fun. They are free and loaded with helpful tips! You can learn how to make lovely blocks like this!

Stars in the Loft close-up

Make a few more and you could have a quilt like my Stars in the Loft! I've entered in in Hancock's of Paducah's Quilt Contest. You can see all of the gorgeous entries here and vote for your favourites!

Stars in the Loft

I hope you'll take a tour of my Gallery where you'll find pictures of some of the quilts I've completed.

Stars in the Loft centre medallion

Learn how to make little bees to embellish your quilts! There's a honey of a demo under Tutorials and Tips. During the Blog Hop Party week I'll be showing you how to make a grasshopper!

I also have a Tiny World Pincushion Gallery. The basic pattern was designed by Mimi Kirchner. Her instructions are clear and very well illustrated. Once you learn the basics you can let your imagination run wild. I've made so many tiny worlds and there are more in the works. Here is a picture of my most recent creation. I found a lovely little milk glass bowl in the local thrift shop.

And here's a close-up. These little gems aren't just pretty little tchotchkes....they are working pincushions!

Mimi is wonderfully creative. She has a blog and an Etsy shop where you an buy her whimsical creations and her patterns. Check out her muscle men on her blog - they are guaranteed to put a smile on your face!

Now for the give-away! Mimi has donated a Tiny World Make-Do Pincushion Pattern for my give-away. The pattern is a pdf format and it will be emailed by Mimi to the lucky winner. To enter the give-away just leave a comment below. No-reply/anonymous blogger comments won't be entered in the draw unless a email address is provided in the comment. For an extra chance to win follow me on Bloglovin (if you are already a follower with an email address you are already entered). The winner will be announced in my November 27 blog post. Good luck!

NOTE: Those of you who are Google+ users appear to be showing up as "no-reply" so I have no way to contact you if you win the draw so please make sure your email address is included in the comment!  Thanks!

I've got lots to share with you over the next several days so I hope you'll drop by for a visit and see what's new! Until I post again, happy sewing!

Why is there a grasshopper in Lazy Punk and four more of my favourite things

You may remember that in April 2013 I wrote about the importance of labelling a quilt. I suggested that you consider quilting your initials to help identify your quilt in the event it is stolen.

Your initials will just disappear in the quilting and no one but you will know!

Another option I wrote about in May 2013 is to add a little "secret" in the quilt. I quilted Barbara's quilt Pink Peonies and snuck a little grasshopper in the border! Can you see him? He is near the large pink peony near the mitred corner.

 

 

And here he is! He looks like he belongs there and he is a little identifying feature.

 



 

This little grasshopper is becoming a bit of a signature for me; I've snuck grasshoppers into other quilts. I decided that I should hide a little grasshopper in Lazy Punk! Here it is; it has been washed and then tossed in the dryer to give it that crinkly quilt look. And the grasshopper is appliquéd in place! Can you see him?

Lazy Punk, 2013

Here he is!

Lazy Punk is now ready for delivery! We've had our first snowfall so it will be a warm and welcome gift I'm sure!

Next I'll show you the next four blocks from A Few of My Favourite Things. These little chicks are so cute!

 

I love this lucky horseshoe but I think the pattern should have been designed so that the horseshoe is facing the other way to keep the luck from running out.

 

 

Doesn't this little fellow look like the RCA dog with the caption "His Master's Voice"? I sure think so!

 

Until I post again, happy sewing!

Bed bugs and another Edyta lesson

This morning I decided to refold some of my quilts. I do this from time to time to prevent creating permanent creases. I don't fold them square but rather fold the corners in so that all of the folds are on the bias edges of the fabric. One of the quilts I refolded was made in 1995. I made it for my daughter and it is called Bed Bugs.

Bed Bugs, 1995

The border was given to me by a friend; she bought it in Arizona when she was on vacation. It is a lovely brown geometric print with little butterflies. There was just enough fabric to border the quilt!

 I call the quilt Bed Bugs because there are loads of bugs in the quilt. I drew the bugs with Sakura Pigma pens and coloured them with watercolour paints mixed with textile medium to make them permanent. I then quilted spider webs in the open spaces.

Bed Bugs close-up of spider web quilting with bugs

Even back then I loved grasshoppers and I managed to sneak on into a corner of the quilt!

Close-up of grasshopper in Bed Bugs

There are even bugs on the label!

One of the lovely quilts Edyta Sitar showed at the trunk show I attended last week is a tree quilt. I love the setting of these blocks. Trees like this are a great way to use up scraps because virtually any colour can be used for the leaves.

One of the things Edyta suggested is that when making a tree block put the lighter triangles at the top of the tree. This made perfect sense and I wish I had thought of it when I made my quilt. While I love this tree in autumn golds I think it would have been more effective had I arranged the triangles as she suggested.

I worked diligently on this quilt paying particular attention to the arrangement of the triangles. Notice that the triangles on the left point inward as do the triangles on the right so this means when making the strips of half square triangles you have to pay close attention to the direction. And I was positive I did that. It wasn't until I was well into the quilting, too far to go back, that I realized that there was a mistake! Darn! One of the triangles was facing the wrong direction and it was the tree in the lower right hand corner. Oh well, no one's perfect and in this instance I didn't have to make the decision about whether or not to fix the problem or live with it! In the end I kind of like the mistake....it gives me something to talk about and in a world of mistakes it isn't a big one and clearly not worth worrying about!

Bed Bugs tree with mistake

 

Until I post again, happy sewing!