Sister's Choice Quilts

Best One Yet

I squeezed in an hour up in my sewing room yesterday and made the best mug rug yet. Technically anyway. It went together without any glitches or hitches and the machine binding went perfectly. What a great discovery that technique was! A timesaver for sure.

And I also got my pieces cut out for the first block in the Among the Stars Again Christmas version. 

Sorry for the poor-quality photo. It was late in the day when I took it. These are the pieces I cut out for the first two blocks.

I have to say, when you join in a Fatquartershop Block of the Month program where they supply the fabric, they are incredibly generous. This has always been the case, going back ten years or more. After cutting out the pieces for the blocks, I had enough fabric left over to repeat the process for another two more blocks!

This is what I had leftover. If you want to starch, or if you make a mistake, or just need extra, they provide it in their generous cuts. I am sure once this project is done, I will have more than enough to make a table runner or some other small project. It is a good value for the cost.

Hope everyone had a good week. I am off to take care of my dad this weekend. One of my sisters reported that Dad wanted to walk down the block for some exercise yesterday. He pushed his wheelchair and made it down three or four houses from his house. I am glad to see he had an interest in doing that. He is so frail and seems very weak and fragile to me.

I'll try to post Friday. If not, have a great weekend everyone! Bye-bye September!

 

Christmas Among the Stars Again BOM

Well, it looks like I am participating in a Christmas Block of the Month. I admit I was a bit surprised when this arrived in the mail. I recall seeing it and being interested, but I actually have no recollection of joining and ordering it. Oops. Must have been shopping with chardonnay again.

I do adore this fabric collection and the program comes with a book and instructions for a second Halloween version. How cute is that?

Here is the Christmas version I am working on. I tried to find a link to the BOM on Fatquartershop.com, but they must have closed it out, because I can't see it on their website.

This fabric collection is by Lella Boutique, who is becoming a great favorite with me. It is called Christmas Morning. The BOM blocks are 12 inches.

Now all I need to do is find time to sew. I can't even make myself a Halloween mug rug I am so swamped with other responsibilities. I thought I was retired. 

My computer issues have been resolved, but it has been a rough three days. Can't seem to live without it. My husband loaned me a PC, but I am used to a Mac and was very fumble-fingered. Thank goodness he had a spare I could use, otherwise, I would have missed three writing deadlines for the company I work for, which would have been very bad.

Hope your week is going well. Eva and I made Blondies (click the link for the recipe) yesterday and decorated the front porch. She was so funny. When I told her what we were making for our Tuesday baking project, there was silence. Finally she said, "That sounds good Nana, but shouldn't we be making something with pumpkin?" I tell you, that girl is into all things seasonal.

 

Halloween House

My sweet husband ordered this amazing Halloween house for Eva and I. It's made of metal and is from a place called Grandin Road. We put twinkly lights inside it and arranged some of our Halloween figurines here and there. It is pretty spectacular, and as you can see, Eva is quite pleased with her set up. The lighting is weird in the photo. Maybe you can enlarge it to see the details better. 

I am having some major computer issues and am having a heck of a time posting. Hopefully I will sort everything out in the next day or so.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

If You're Not Convinced Yet...

If you're not convinced that you need to make the Centerpiece Table Topper Mug Rug, maybe this one will convince you. I swear it turned out so darn cute. I have a friend who is a little bit "witchy" (she would be the first to say so) who will love this. 

Sewing the rounds around the center hexagon is a bit fussy, but I hope/think I am getting better at it. My trimming is more accurate for sure. This time, when it came time to attach the binding I decided to cut the strips 2.5 inches wide, which is wider than what I usually do (2.25 inches). I pressed it as per the instructions given by Lella Boutique, but omitted the glue step. On each of the mitered angles, I just used a straight pin to hold things in place. 

And I stitched that puppy down with the machine. I used a 3.0 stitch length setting and went slowly in the ditch. The top looked perfect and the underside was ok. It wasn't right on the edge, but all the binding was  caught in the stitches and was pretty even at least. For a mug rug, I was totally satisfied. It took just a minute instead of 20 (by hand) and really looked quite nice. My conclusion is for mug rugs, machine stitching the binding is the way to go.

I am so overwhelmed with work this week and am dying to make more of these little mug rugs, but it just is not meant to be. Hope your week is going well! Happy first day of fall!

Finished Acorn Love Table Runner!

Ta da. My Acorn Love table runner is finished! I did end up making my version smaller than the pattern. I used sixteen acorn blocks for my runner. It is going to be a perfect size for my dining room table. I love the colors in Corey Yoder's "Cozy Up" fabric collection. This is a brand new collection and is widely available. I bought a layer cake to make my runner. I recommend the pattern. Super easy to follow and such a cute finish.

I just sent a number of table-toppers off to my quilter last week. I am tempted to just send this one off to her solo, because I sure would love to have it sooner than later. If I get it back before Thanksgiving I could still use it this season. Otherwise, it won't be enjoyed until next year. And it's so cute! I thought about quilting it myself, but no. Just no.

I heard from a couple of you that you were making projects with this Cozy Up collection, which is so adorable. It has four or five gigantic gingham check prints which I did not use in my project, but are so darn cute. Ellen in Oregon said she made the exact same project as me: Acorn Love with Cory Yoder's "Cozy Up"! How fun is that? Great minds think alike.

Hope your week is going great. Eva and I are going to make scones today. She has declared now the weather is fall-like enough to have a tea party. I think she's right.

 

Machine Binding Went Ok

I tried Vanessa's method for machine stitching binding yesterday and overall was very pleased with how it went. Vanessa is the designer behind Lella Boutique fabric, and has a tutorial on this technique on Instagram. 

Vanessa's method involves Elmer's School Glue, which many of you said you did not and would not do. Other than the glue, a number of people commented that they use her technique with success. A few folks said they never have had success with finishing binding by machine and much prefer the look of hand binding.

I had a very small table topper and decided to just go for it and try Vanessa's method. I know from experience Elmer's School Glue is water-soluble and did not think it would gunk up my machine. Why use glue at all? Well, it actually worked to hold the pressed binding down in place firmly and eliminated the need to use binding clips, which allowed me to stitch along more steadily without a lot of stopping and adjusting clips. I used such a minimal amount of glue. A super-light touch. You definitely do not want blobs of white glue oozing out from underneath your binding. Ugh.

 

I did put a pin at each corner, which you can see in the top photo. I thought it would hold the mitered corner in place better, and sure enough, it worked great. In the photo just above, you can see my stitching on the backside of the quilt. 

And here is the top side of the quilt. You can see that I stitched in the ditch, and it looks pretty darn good. On the backside, there are a couple of places where the stitching just missed the edge of the binding and will need to be tacked in place with a stitch or two by hand. With luck, maybe I will get better at this and not miss the edge next time. 

Overall, this is a great method. Of course, I was working with a super small project which was easy to manipulate through the machine. I am very pleased with how it turned out and will definitely try it again in the future. And honestly, the glue thing was just fine. I preferred it to messing with binding clips.

Do let us know if you tried this method and what you thought!

Machine Binding: Shall We Give It a Try?

I have always had an issue with hand sewing quilt bindings. My problem is that I procrastinate something awful and put off finishing those bindings for a very long time. Years in fact. It isn't that it is difficult, I just find it B.o.r.i.n.g. It is better when I can sit with an audiobook and listen to something entertaining to pass the time. For the past couple of years, my schedule has been so busy that I just don't have time to sit for an hour or so at a time to do this handwork. Many people advise me, "Oh, you should do it in front of the tv in the evening". That just doesn't work for me. I am rubbish at sewing in the evening. The light is never good enough and I drink a couple of glasses of chardonnay every night, which does not lend itself to nice stitching.

So, my quilts pile up. They are quilted, the binding is partially sewn on, it just needs to be sewn down by hand. And I do not do it. I am not kidding, I must have ten quilts sitting around waiting for me to finish the binding. Hang on a minute, I am going to go count them. Be right back.

Eight.

Better than I thought. But still. I just sent five table toppers to be quilted, which will bring my total up to 13, so there.

This brings me to the point of this blog post. I discovered a tutorial by one of my favorite quilt designers, Vanessa at Lella Boutique. On Instagram and on her blog, Vanessa demonstrates her method for stitching quilt bindings by machine. The process involves Elmer's School Glue, believe it or not. Her Instagram post is a video, and her blog post goes into great detail with photos as to her binding method and machine stitching process.

So, what do you think? Do you want to take a look at her method and give it a try with me?

I won't have a chance to sew again until Sunday, but with luck, maybe I can have one or two bindings done to share on Monday? If any of you try it as well, please report back to us and let us know how it went, ok?

 

 

More Fall Mug Rugs

These photos aren't the greatest, but how cute are these mug rugs? They are around 8 1/2 inches wide. I have to admit I have made six of them and only four are worthy of gifting to people. A couple of the earliest ones came out really wonky. I have improved my trimming method and am better at lining things up so it comes out symmetrical. The fabric I used above is absolutely the cutest, and I may have to stick to it for future efforts. It is Kitty Corn by Urban Chiks. It is selling out fast, so if you want any, you had better act now. Eva quickly claimed that one as hers.

I would have bet Eva would have chosen this one for herself, but nope, her tastes have evolved it seems. I could see she was hesitating over it, but in the end chose the one from the Kitty Corn collection. This one was made from bits and bobs in my scrap bin.

This last one seems a bit dull after the fun Halloween ones, but it is a nice one for fall I guess. The fabrics are from an ancient collection by Brannock and Patek called Four Seasons. I am guessing it is ten years old. Anyone know when it came out?

I have more mug rugs lined up to make, but I have the busiest week ever planned for this week. Every day I have work assignments or places to be or homeschooling projects to do with Eva. No idea how I will get it all done. Burning some midnight oil is in my future I think. Please stick with me if my posting is spotty.

Hope you all had a great weekend. My dad is doing great. I fed him fish two nights in a row over the weekend, so he was a happy camper. And best of all, my husband's oncologist called to tell him that his latest test results were excellent and he shows no sign of prostate cancer right now. Now that is a cause for celebration.

Talk soon!

Centerpiece Tablemat Pattern is a Real Winner

I've got something cute for you today. A new mug rug pattern that would be an adorable Christmas gift. I think I may make a batch of them and give them to some of my besties for Fall/Halloween season. Who wouldn't love a seasonal mug rug?

The pattern is "Centerpiece Tablemats" designed by Terri Staats for Sweet Treasures. I saw it on Instagram, and there is a whole #centerpiecetablemat link you can follow to see what others are doing. Check it out. They are so darn cute, you won't be able to resist. The small mug rug size is around 9" and the largest could be turned into a Christmas tree skirt.

It took me about an hour and a half from start to finish. I started a little after 4 PM and finished just before 6 PM. You should check out the Halloween ones made with Kitty Corn, and the Christmas ones made with Swell Christmas. So adorable!

I was really wishing for a tutorial because I am such a visual learner. If I can't find one, maybe I will dive in and try to make one!

Hope you are all having a great week.

Acorn Love Table Runner

In honor of Fall, I just had to start a new table runner for the season. This one is called Acorn Love, and is a pattern by Lori Holt for Bee in My Bonnet. If you are familiar with Lori Holt's books, you know how well she does pieced patterns that depict something, such as the acorn here. Other patterns she has done are corn, apples, strawberries, carrots, various animals, tractors, all sorts of adorable things.

That is one block above, which still needs colored corner triangles sewn on. I was hoping to finish the blocks this weekend, but I ran out of steam.

We had a family wedding on Saturday and an overnight visit with my father. The venue where the wedding was held was at a remote mountainous site that had absolutely no accommodation for a person in a wheelchair, so hauling Dad around was completely exhausting. I had to enlist the help of some brawny grandsons to physically carry Dad in his wheelchair up steep gravel hills and up and down numerous steps. I have no idea how this place has a permit to hold events!  If you are disabled, you pretty much were up the creek. It made me appreciate all the fixtures to accommodate the disabled that we have come to take for granted nearly everywhere else we go.  By Monday all I wanted was to sit on the couch and read a book!

The table runner calls for twenty blocks, which I have done, except for the corner triangles. The runner ends up about 65" long, which I think is longer than I want. I will probably reduce the number of blocks to make it shorter to better fit my table.

This image and the next one are from the pattern cover.

Lori used one of her fabric lines to make her Acorn Love runner. I doubt that particular line of fabric is still available. I used Corey Yoder's brand new line "Cozy Up", which I thought had similar colors.

Anything designed by Sandy Gervais would work great with this pattern as well. Sandy often uses browns, oranges, golds, and that beautiful teal in her fall collections.

I would like to start using my runner ASAP, so I may bite the bullet and quilt this one myself!

Hope you all had a nice weekend.