Sister's Choice Quilts

Handwork

No quilt sewing going on, and that is likely to be the case for awhile, so my posting schedule may be affected accordingly.  I have been trying to get caught up on some hand sewing, namely bindings.  So happy to get the two little Halloween table toppers out at the eleventh hour!  I have also worked on my Dresden Plate applique project, and have only one more "plate" to applique in place.  I am pretty excited to bring closure to that project!

 

I am working a few days this week, and don't expect to have much to report, so this will be a quiet week for me blogging wise.  Hope you are all having fun getting ready for Halloween this Friday!

 

Halloween Party 2014

My family Halloween party was last weekend, and as usual, there were some pretty great costumes.  A Geisha, Medusa, a Flapper, a Professor, a Referee, Ziggy Stardust, an African Potentate, an owl, and entire group who came to the party as The Farmers Wife and the Three Blind Mice.  It was fun.

My sisters and niece decorated the place like crazy.  It seemed like there were boney guests everywhere I looked.

 

Have a great week everyone.

 

Sew Together Bag

Woo hoo!  I made my own little Sew Together Bag!  This is just the cutest little thing, and so very useful.  I know you all will want to make one too.  It isn't a project for beginners, but if you are confident, and follow allong a couple of tutorials, read carefully and are patient with yourself, you can do it.

I had been seeing these adorable bags on various blogs, and when I saw Amanda's at Crazy Mom Quilts, I couldn't help myself.  There was no turning back.

The bag has three zippered pockets and one long zipper to hold it all together.  If you want some practice putting in zippers, here's your project.  A terrific tip I got is to use your walking foot for the entire project, including the zippers.  It worked great for me.

Three zippered pockets for all your cosmetics, sewing notions, whatever.  

And wait for it.

 

Wait for it....

 

 

 

 

I know.  How adorable is that?

Where to begin?  Well, with the downloadable PDF pattern from Sew Demented.  You can get it for $12  on Craftsy .

There are also lots of examples to drool over on Pinterest, Instagram and Flickr for inspiration.  You can embellish the outside with patchwork, embroidery, hexies, yo yos, whatever floats your boat.  For my first one, I just made mine out of a cute Joel Dewberry print. I used a piece of fusible batting to give it more body.

To tell you the truth, I could not have gotten through this pattern without a couple of online tutorials that walked me through it step by step.  The best one I found is one by Quilt Barn, done in five steps, supposedly over a five day sew along.  I made mine in one day.  The tutorial explains things really well and has loads of photos to make things even more clear.  Hopefully my future efforts won't take an entire day, because I have a couple of people who are going to want one of these when they see mine.

Amanda at Crazy Mom Quilts has a nice tutorial for making zipper tabs, which I think are a great addition. I used this same technique when I made those gazillion or so Teri Atkinson Zippy bags a few years ago.

So get yourself some pretty fabric, four zippers, some fusible interfacing, the pattern and some matching thread, and give it a try!

 

Fall Dinner

Nothing sewing related this week, but I do want to share with you one of my favorite fall dinners.  The weather is finally starting to feel nippy and I have regretted not grabbing a sweater or jacket once I have dashed out the door on one errand or another.  These two dishes, plus a veggie or salad of your choice will take the chill right out of these cool evenings.  The photo above is of the two dishes just before I popped them into the oven.  You can prepare an hour or so before cooking.

The Best Meatloaf (from Allrecipes.com)

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (I use a bit more usually)
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
ground black pepper to taste
1 cup soft bread crumbs (I whirl 3 slices bread in the processor)
1/2 C milk
3 T. Heinz 57 Steak Sauce
1 onion, minced (I whirl that in the processor too after removing bread crumbs)
1/2 a red bell pepper, minced (mince by hand)

Preheat oven to 375.  Lightly grease an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan.  In a mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, salt, pepper, egg and bread crumbs.  Mix lightly with your hands.  Pour in the milk, steak sauce, onion and red pepper.  Place mixture in prepared pan, brush top with 1 T catsup or additional steak sauce.

Bake 1 hour or more (mine takes at least 15 min longer).  Let stand 5 min. before cutting.

Oven Roasted Parmesan Potatoes

1 1/2 lbs small red potatoes
salt, pepper, paprika, garlic salt if desired
olive oil
2 T. Parmesan grated

Cut potatoes into chunks (I cut mine into eighths).  Place in cast iron skillet or other oven proof pan.  Combine spices in a small bowl, sprinkle evenly over potatoes.  I omit the garlic powder and drizzle garlic or herb flavored olive oil (found at specialty shops) over the seasoned potatoes.  Sprinkle with grated or shredded Parmesan.  Toss to thoroughly combine.  Cook along side meatloaf, tossing occasionally.

Things should be done about the same time.  If the potatoes finish first, take them out of the oven, cover with foil and let sit until time to serve.

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Busy next few days, so I probably won't post until Monday.  Have a great weekend everyone!

 

 

 

 

What Was I Thinking?

I found myself in JoAnn's Fabrics yesterday.  My mission was to pick up some zippers to make a Sew Together Bag.  

Then, I started thinking.  Hmmm, the family Halloween party is this Saturday, and I am planning to take Eva with me.  This is a child who has six princess costumes, and it seemed like a no-brainer that she would be one princess or another.  But that is so expected.  Shouldn't we try to exercize some modicum of creativity and come up with some other idea?

An hour and half later, and $40 lighter in my wallet, I came home with a pattern, gold lame, black lace trim, and sparkly aqua tulle.  Oh, and four zippers for the Sew Together Bag (more on that later).

I haven't done any garment sewing in mumble mumble years, but I was up for the challenge.  I made a colossal mess iin my sewing room, but managed to complete the project in five hours or so.  And you know what?  The sleeves came out perfectly.  I may be rusty, but I haven't completely lost my touch.

Gold lame top, aqua cape, tulle skirt, tiara, sceptor, gold shoes---and we have Super Eva.

Orange Peel, Another Option

Recently I have been experimenting with different options to make the Orange Peel block. I have settled on doing needle turn applique, for a nice hand work project to devote myself to this winter.  While I was playing with different applique methods, I saw this template set on the Baycreek Quilting Templates website.  

They call the set "FLower Petals", and offer it in three sizes- 8", 12" and 16".  I ordered the 8" set for $15.  It came a week or so ago but I've been too busy with trips to the pumpkin patch and working to test it out. Yesterday was the day and I cut out some scraps and stitched a block together.  Here's what I think--

 I had some issues with cutting around the template.  I think if I had something on the underside of the template to make it not slip, that issue would be solved.  Also, I have heard that using a smaller rotary blade makes cutting curves easier.  All I have is the 45s that fit my cutter, so I will have to try the smaller ones at some point in the future and see if that makes a difference.

I folded my "peel" to mark the center point, and did the same with the white background units.  I put a pin in the fabric when I lined up the two center points.  Then I just started at the top and stitched the length of the "peel".  No problems at all.  It came out fine, with a quarter inch seam allowance at both tips.

And you know what?  It was fast!  Much faster than needleturn, or any of the other applique techniques.  Except for fusible raw edge machine applique, that might be a teensy bit faster.

All in all, I liked using the templates.  And if you are not an applique person, but love the look of this block, the templates might be just what you are looking for.

Three Small Quilts

Jersey Girl. (Carrie Nelson/Miss Rosie's Quilt Company Schnibble pattern.  Honky Tonk fabric by Moda).

Hopscotch.  (Kim Diehl pattern and fabric, Simple Whatnots Club through Fatquartershop.com).

Idaho Lily.  (Kim Diehl pattern and fabric, Simple Whatnots Club through Fatquartershop.com).

I feel incredibly lucky.  These three small quilts have been outstandingly quilted by Mary Flynn of Quilt Holllow.  They are coming home very soon, and I can't wait to put them out in a prominent spot in the house.

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Look!  It's a Pumpkin Patch!

They had scary scarecrows.  And witches and ghosts and all sorts of Halloween things.

Corn maze.  We got lost.  Nana was sure we weren't ever going to find our way out, but we did.

 

Then I picked out a green pumpkin. 

  

And a white pumpkin...

In fact, we got a wagon and I filled it with all the pumpkins I could carry.

 

Then we had Fudgecicles and juice at a picnic table.  I want to go there everyday after school.

Dresden Place Center Circles

I am so interested in doing applique these days.  I have got to get my Dresden Plate project finished.  I only have two more plates to do and the blocks will be done. 

There is a great method for turning perfect circle edges that I have been using.  I think I have blogged about it before, but here is a re-cap.  

You cut your circles using Perfect Circles plastic templates.  Trace around the template that is the size you need for your project--trace on the wrong side of your fabric.  Cut it out, leaving an approximate quarter inch seam allowance.  Do a running stitch all around the circle, about an eighth of an inch from the cut edge.  Lay the template over the traced line of the circle and pull the threads taut.  Dab the edges with spray starch on a small brush and carefully iron the edges.  Don't iron directly over the bare plastic template because it will warp and be ruined.  Don't ask me how I know this.

And there you go.  They aren't kidding--Perfect Circles! 

Orange Peel for Real

This is my For Real Orange Peel project.  After making 900 test block units I am now ready to embark upon the Real Deal.  

Good gravy, thank you for all the brilliant suggestions.  Sew four 4 1/2 inch scrappy background squares together into your large block first, before appliquing?  Chris, can you hear me slapping my forehead and saying "Duh!"  Be sure to read Kath's wonderful suggestion on using a sticky label run through the printer for your template.  And if you are wanting to make your own orange peel template pieces, read Renate's comment on using the Pythagorean Theorem to figure it out.  I am serious.  Europeans are so much better at math than we Americans are.  Except for Thelma.

This is the fabric collection I plan to use.  Kona Snow is my background and the collection is Fancy by Lily Ashbury.  You know what?  Best.Day.Ever. by April Rosenthal coordinates perfectly if I want to add in a little something extra.

Here are my prepped pieces for nine blocks.  I haven't cut out all the fabric yet, but then I am not sure how big I am going to make my version.  The blocks finish at only 8 inches, so I may be making a few.  Notice how I have pressed the background blocks?  That is to aid me in placing the applique units just right.

I am doing needle turn applique, because I have discovered I hate all the prep of starch and glue and want to get right to the sewing.  The stitching on these guys goes very quickly.  Friday morning I had fun picking out a slew of pretty matching threads to do the hand sewing.

Hope you all had a splendid weekend!