freezeframe

2012-03-07T07:17:00.004-08:00

Look!

A Mini Round Robin

Michele from Quilts From My Crayon Box blog

is hosting a modern mini mystery round robin.

It really sounds fun and since it is small scale it actually is doable for me. I'm joining in...how about you? Oh, come on...be brave!

I gotta go decide on my center block now....

Round and Round we go,

Annie

2012-03-04T09:52:00.001-08:00

Twister Tool Twist

(This is blogger's orange?!!)

When I first got my Little Twister Tool I really "needed" to give it a try. I did not want to sew squares together, I wanted to try it on something I already had. I'm a very patient sort wouldn't you say? The only thing I already had was some strips sewn together, so I lined it up on one seam and cut. And then sewed those blocks together. I also cut the opposite "waste" blocks for another one. I then framed them in a green, bordered them with an orange stripe, quilted and bound them, and now I have a couple of new Fall potholders!

I'm always "what ifing" and on the lookout for how a tool can be used for other than it's intended purpose...'cause I like different. And I so like what came from this "what if". Especially since this little bugger cost me $10 I'm real happy to have an alternative design for it. I've even found some inspiration while putting together this post.....ooo what if...................

Happy Twisting

Annie

2012-02-25T07:25:00.000-08:00

A Bird & Blooms

It looked much better in my mind than it does in reality.

I'm going to re-visit this idea in the future to try to get closer to what I visualise in the ole noggin.

I printed off some fabric pieces and pulled some selvages.

One of the fabrics is a purchased print, the others are all printed with my printer.

I wanted a black and white background with subtle colors smattered throughout. I think some of the printed fabrics are a bit too dark for my thread painted swirl flowers. I thought my selvages would work well for the smattering of color part and for the most part I am happy with that bit...with some improvement next time.

I sewed strips of the background fabrics and added selvages here and there and did fusible raw edge applique for my bird.

Then some thread painting for my swirl flowers.

This piece was to go into a frame that Dad made a while back, so I just stay-stitched the edges.

Oh for goodness sake, don't I ever dust my walking foot?!

That's a bit better. I'm always telling myself I'll clean everything after this project. Then I just start sending the new project through....I forget.

Anyway, for now and until I get a chance to play with this thought again, it is what it is.

Get ta stitchin'!

Annie

2012-02-23T04:00:00.002-08:00

Our Blog Followers

Several comments about blogger's word verification included comments regarding our followers and whether or not the number of followers really means anything.

The number of followers/members can be a psychological belief that that many people are actually following our blog and it can make us happy to "think" that many people read our blog. It can work psychologically in another direction as well. When we go to someone's blog that has hundreds and thousands of followers, and that can make us think that we must be missing out on something really big at this blog.

It's only a number, but it seems to be a number we all want to attain on our blogs whether it be a true following or not.

Personally I have about maybe 20 - 30 actual followers. That would be my guess. Of my 280some followers, 260 of them joined my site in order to have a chance to win a prize on another blog, Sew We Quilt. They were extremely nice prizes. I would also have to credit 15 - 25 of you actually following me found me by way of Sew We Quilt. Because I only had 3 flickr friends when I started blogging.

I have an attraction to collage. And all those little squares of followers up there make up a really fun collage. But I do not in any way kid myself by thinking that many people are reading my blog. They just wanted to win a prize. A handful even returned after the contest and removed themselves from my following.

I guess I would rather have a collage of true followers up there, but I haven't figured out how to delete the prize chasers or even if that is possible. In any case, I enjoy the collage, and I know that my new followers and my very first few followers are my "real" followers. After my guest appearance and the prizes were distributed, I began to watch you join my blog as a follower (It must be because you want to follow) and I always go and check out your blog in return (if you have one).

It's your blogs there to the right that I love to check in on most because you're checking in on me too. Some of you don't have a blog...yet. But I keep checking so I know when you do start blogging! I so appreciate all my true followers and thank you for all your generous and kind comments.

So, does the number of followers mean anything to you?

Now here's a fun one too...our

List of Blogs

that we follow.

Everybody wants to be at the top of everyone else's blog list. So, very soon now we no longer will need to know our alphabetical order...we'll need to know the order of importance for punctuation marks.

! * & " + ! * & " +

Who's winning on your blog?

Happy blogging!
Annie

2012-02-19T04:00:00.023-08:00

Four Leaf Clovers?

A funny thing happened on the way to Pillow #4.

It didn't become a pillow. It was too big. I don't want any pillows that are larger than 18". But that isn't the funny thing.

You see that "Rocket" fabric outside the twisted pinwheels?...when I bought that fabric I saw black and white and I saw that luscious green and I saw numbers and not a once did I see a rocket! Not a one! There's a rocket every 2" all over this fabric piece! <~~That's the funny thing. What?...you were expecting hilarious?

Well, now what am I going to do with this stupid piece of fabric that I'm now mad at for having stupid rockets on it! And it's been in my way and laughing at me and haunting me ever since!

Noticing it, I pulled it out thinking, oh, what a fun piece to border these pinwheels with...that I decided I would call four leaf clovers for a March, St. Patrick's Day theme. Then I saw the stupid rockets and was reminded all over again how I hate this piece of fabric!

Then I took another look at it. This design made with the Little Twister tool is called twisted pinwheels. I see them as whirligigs. And I visualise them spinning around in the air. Which is where a rocket goes...up in the air. I decided the rockets, the count-down numbers and the green words "blast off" all fits nicely with whirligigs. See how nicely I forced this hated fabric to go with my twisted design...it's how my twisted mind works. I'm awfully determined sometimes. Yep, the four leaf clovers don't work into this scenario any more.

Now, yay!...I'm using this fabric...getting it out of my stash. this project is still a pillow at this stage, so I'm already planning ahead for the back of the pillow. I'll make an extra whirligig and I'll fussy cut the words "blast off".......you guessed it...I didn't have enough fabric left to get those large "blast off" words for the pillow back!!! I hate this fabric again

In the end, the piece was too large for a pillow so it's a table mat. I just couldn't know what size it would come out to once it was chopped up and resewn. And I did my best to use up the rest of the rocket fabric on the back...I kind of like how the back looks. That hated fabric makes an interesting design pattern. I just keep shaking my head...rockets...

The whirligig centers needed a little something I thought, and these tiny buttons worked out the best of everything I tried.
There are only 25 buttons. A mere sampling compared to Carol..*snicker*
They don't really seem to be the answer now that they're on, but I haven't had anything else come to mind yet. I'll just wait.

I'm not calling this one a success but I'm so glad I finally got to play with the Little Twister tool I bought ages ago. I love this twisted design but I didn't think it was fun cutting out the twisted blocks so I'll most likely never make anything larger than a pillow or table mat in this design. But I'm glad I've made it at least once...so far.

Have a fun blogging day!

Annie

2012-02-18T04:00:00.000-08:00

Robot Proof

We'd all like to avoid spam within all of our electronic communications. I see this attempt of avoidance mostly in blogland. Personally, my blog is not a popular blog and I have not experienced much spam in comments. At least not enough to make your visit here too annoying to leave a comment if you choose to do so.

I try to visit and comment on as many blogs as I can fit into a variety of time frames. The inspiration is irresistible and I hate to miss anything! But proving that I'm not a robot is becoming so time consuming. I see now that many blogs have two words we must type in to prove we are not robots. One of those words is extremely difficult to read. I've just guessed at them.

I already don't bother with comments if I have to type a user ID and my email address and I don't know what all else after that because I just don't have that kind of time. So I close the blog, don't leave my comment and go on to the next one that I want to read. I feel like I'll have to start skipping comments on those two words proofs as well if they are going to become numerous.

Some of my most favorite blogs have huge followings and get lots of comments and I can leave my comment without the added time of proving myself. How do they do it? It doesn't quite make sense that they don't need this robot proof system, yet a small followed blog with a few comments has a fancy system to avoid spam.

Blogland is growing ever larger and we find more and more inspiration available to us. But a 24 hour day never adds hours. So many of us already feel we spend too much time on our computers. So, spending extra time at a blog to prove who I am in order to leave a comment? I'm sorry, I just don't have that kind of time to spend on one blog.

Is there really no better solution to the problem of spam? Is it possible that this is a concern that blogger will be correcting come March 1st? I wish it could all go back to simple because I'd love nothing better than to tell people I love their creativity...I wish I had the time to continue that but, well, you know...

I know no one will miss my one comment on their blog, but what if a lot of people are finding it too time consuming? I wonder if I'm alone in my musings on this. It's possible.

Annie

2012-02-12T14:20:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here thinking about

Starch

I admit that ... I don't get it. I can't understand nor imagine why anyone would want to gunk up their fabric with starch. Unless maybe you don't have a walking foot, then I am able to make some sense out of it.

When I was young (prior to permanent press) we starched shirts while ironing and I remember being glad that they weren't my shirts and that I wasn't going to have to wear them.

Luckily, "To each his own".

I sew 99% of everything I sew with a walking foot. It's the best $150. I've ever saved and spent and when it gives out, I will buy another. But I just can't even think about starch. Yuk. But am I missing something here?

So, if you starch and you have a walking foot, I'd love for you to explain to me why starch your fabric too?...cause I'd love to be able to say, "oh, I get it now".

Starchless in California

Annie

2012-02-08T04:00:00.026-08:00

Pillow #3

My personal Pillow A Month Challenge

Flower Collage

One of my Flickr contacts, Krista Withers, lolablueocean, does a lot of free piecing and improv stitching. She created wonderful flowers that I immediately fell in love with. You can see her flowers and improv here .

I just had to make some for myself. I can't even imagine free piecing them, so I drew up a paper piecing pattern for mine.

I ran a test as a postcard before starting in on the pillow top.

I've mentioned before that my process of a creation is starting with an idea and from there, making it up as I go along. Very seldom do I start out with an entire plan.

It turned out that the piecing process I used to make the flowers allowed me to create a bit of a different look for each one. That was a fun surprise. The background for the flowers actually is free pieced and improv as well as some applique. Doing the background this way was a big challenge for me. This was my first time playing around with that. Some of the background fabrics I made myself (you can see how I made the fabrics here) and others are purchased fabrics.

I quilted with meandering straight line angles (for lack of a better description). I'm 50/50 on whether it's over quilted or not. I like it to look quilted but I do not like it when the quilting over powers the fabrics and design.

This pillow front sat for more than a week before I finally decided on the binding and the back. I'm very stingy with my text fabrics and didn't want to "waste" a big chunk on that back side. Feeling wild I decided to include the zipper as part of the design.

Me and my seam ripper became more than just good friends during this pillow creation, but I'm real happy with the way it turned out.
It's my fave so far!

Thanks Krista for your awesome inspirational improv!

Annie

This pillow project is linked to Fabric Fascination's 12-Months Linking Party Check out all the fab creations!

2012-01-29T04:00:00.000-08:00

Pillow #2

My personal Pillow A Month challenge

Reds on Checks
for February

My inspiration for this pillow came from my own wall quilt,

All In A Row.

I like the effect created within the checked area and wondered how it would look with the check as the entire background surface.

While it doesn't have the same effect, I am happy with the result. More strips may have taken me closer to what I envisioned, but I like what happened with this design too.

I always make things a bit larger than the size I want it to finish at, so the extra went on the back...which turned into a happy surprise.

I'm enjoying the back as much as I'm enjoying the front.

So far I'm enjoying this pillow challenge. Pillow #3 is already underway and is my fave so far. I'm actually beginning to wonder if I'll end up with more than 12 or if it will all come to a dead end all of a sudden. I can be rather unpredictable. Well, time will tell. Until then, pillow love!

Annie

2012-01-22T04:00:00.000-08:00

There's this

Wonky House Block Swap

going on over at

Jane's blog

I'm sure I've mentioned in the past that I struggle with mass production, which means anything over the count of one. As well, my to-do list is ever lengthening and this year I want to work at chipping away at all the inspiring ideas listed on it. However, two very sweet ladies connivingly rooked me into a private block swap with them for wonky houses. They just would not take NO! for an answer. So I caved. And now that I had yet another commitment hanging over my head, I decided to try tackling the first block. For which the result is this...

I very quickly learned that I cannot WONK! I'm a Mrs. Monk...everything has to be straight and even and balanced. Wonky does not fit in any one of those categories. But I think I'm doing ok in the wacky department. Which really doesn't have much to do with a wonky house. They are very nice ladies and they say it's ok if I do wacky rather than wonky. I tried to wonk, I really did, but it was just killing me!

Well, there's my "one" ~~wonky~~ wacky house block. But now I need another one! Not happy now. Don't have another idea. Don't want to make another ~~wonky~~ wacky house block. Yet I said I would...why did I let them get to me like that?!

Finally another idea came to mind. For which the result is this...

I forced myself to wonk but I really want to straighten that bird house! It looks like I wonked the dotted background but it is actually cut on the straight of grain. There really isn't even much "wacky" in this block, except the house is for birds rather than people.

At this point I thought I was done with these not-so-wonky yet wacky house blocks when I decided to try one more. I can't believe I put myself through that...no one to blame but me!

One more resulted in this...

I think those sunflowers are so fun, I wanted to play with them again. This tea cup just would not accept a door and window design, so I went looking for someone to live inside it. That beauty queen moved right in. Now I'm done. No more wacky house blocks!

I usually work with applique by applying Wonder Under to the back of the applique pieces. Wonder Under light weight isn't really stiff, but since these blocks might end up in someones quilt, I wanted them to be just fabric pieces. This is the first time I've ever done applique without fusing the pieces to the background. Except for the two birds and the beauty queen in the doorway. It went along well enough, but it's such a breeze with a fusible. To keep the bird pieces as soft as possible, I only applied Wonder Under to the edges to assist me with cutting them out as well as stitching them down.

Whew! I survived yet another commitment. Well, almost. The quilt blocks weren't enough for Jane. She wants signature blocks to go with! So you can imagine the tizzy I'm in by now! (I hear my pillow challenge calling me!...and what was I thinking when I committed to that?!) For the signature blocks, the result are these...

I tried to make them a little wacky too. Not much for success there.

This commitment is all fulfilled now and I am back to my to-do list and that makes me a happy sort again. **big smiles**

I hope my two conniving cyber friends are happy with their blocks because I just would not have put myself through all that for just any ole body.

You can check out all the wonky house blocks being made in this

flickr group

Have a wonky good day all,

Wacky Annie

2012-01-16T09:54:00.000-08:00

I'm making my own fabric.

I love text fabric, especially if it's collaged, but it seems I can't really find what I'd like or it doesn't say what I would like it to or it doesn't look the way I would like it to. I don't know why that is. I see works of others with text and love what I see ... no matter what the words say. But when I try to choose it for myself, I get hung up on what the words say.

So I'm trying out making my own text fabrics. I'm using Miracle Fabric Sheets.

and scrapbook paper.

I found this 5X7 packet of paper, cut up the more interesting sections of the sheets...

...taped them together as a collage then copied them to the Miracle Fabric Sheets.

My printer copies a tad lighter than the original...next time I'll set it a notch darker for the copy.

I know I should be able to do this with cotton fabric and freezer paper, but I just cannot get my ink to set well with that method. It still runs/smeers in places when the fabric gets wet. It isn't worth the trouble for me to worry about whether that will happen or not, so I'm sticking with the pro stuff. I get much better color results with this method as well.

Then I started chopping it up and stitching it up. I'll show the results in a near future post...it's not quite ready yet.

Happy stitching!
Annie

Pillow #1

2012-01-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

My personal Pillow A Month Challenge

Snowflakes
for January

My inspiration for my first pillow came from Marci Girl Designs and her Snowflakes. I thought these snowflakes were so cute and I wanted to give them a try. So I drew up a paper piecing pattern and began sewing.

I wanted the snowflakes to be white on blue backgrounds.

I pull the papers off while watching TV.

I have a wonderfully fun shiny yellow metal trash can for my sewing and the shiny reflected onto the paper from the camera flash. Makes the photo look strange...like I had chocolate all over my fingers! Well I probably was eating chocolate, but I would never waste any like that!

Then I stitched them all together with a tiny flake and a cardinal. I think maybe I would like this pillow better if I had made the background all the same color so that the flakes would look more like they are floating. But, I got to spend a little time playing with the snowflakes, which is the purpose of this challenge, so I'll keep it around a while then probably give it away.

The back has a single snowflake and a zipper closure.

It's been so long since I've made a pillow that I'd forgotten I don't need a zipper the same size as the pillow. Since that zipper pull wants to flop around at the edge there, I think I need to find a snowflake charm to attach to it.

If you already made a pillow too, I'd love to see it. Please include your web address for your photo so that I can have a peek and I'll also include it in this post so others can enjoy it as well.

One down, eleven to go. On to the next pillow...

Annie

Another New Beginning

2011-12-31T09:04:00.000-08:00

Another chance to begin anew.

I don't have a need for resolutions this new year, so I thought about some other way to challenge myself. There it is...that word...challenge.

I am challenge challenged. Every time I challenge myself to a long term or ongoing project, I fail. So I've given this some thought deciding it must be something that I know I can accomplish if I really want to. My problem is that I hate having to sew something that I don't particularly want to sew at any given time. So I've tried to think of a project that I want to sew and should be able to accomplish without the feeling of the dread of a time frame and deadline.

This brought to mind all the techniques and works of others that I've collected in my favorites in my flickr account. There are so many that I want to try or just copy (for shame). Then I thought I could use some decorative accent pillows around the place. So this is my challenge for myself for this new year.

A Pillow a Month Challenge
12 pillow covers by the end of 2012. This is a way for me to play with some of those favorites ideas, without having to make a large quilt or just another wall hanging. Now that I've made this decision, I know that it has to be reasonable for me to accomplish. So, I'm not limiting myself to exactly one pillow per month. Just that I will make enough pillows as there are months in the year.

I'm very fearful that this challenge too will be unsuccessful at some point, but I'll begin with a very positive attitude that this will be done! As with all new projects, it's an excited attitude to begin with. Pillow #1 is now underway! I thought 18" would be a good size. I'm not so sure now, but this first one will be that size. I think I'll probably work with a variety of sizes.

I'll be back soon with a finished pillow to share my enthusiastic effort to begin anew! If you like the idea and would be interested in joining me in this challenge, let me know and I'll figure out how to link your pillows with my pillow posts. I'm sure if I had "partners-in-crime" for this challenge I'd have a much better chance at success

I'm off to ring in the new year with my sewing machine...because you forgot to invite me to your wild New Year's Eve party!
Happy New Year!
Annie

Happy New Year!

2011-12-28T04:00:00.000-08:00

Cheers!

I wish you all a happy, healthy, prosperous 2012.

Have fun ringing in the new year, but be safe!

Cheers!

Annie

Merry Christmas

2011-12-18T08:25:00.000-08:00

Please help yourself to a Kiss

A mug rug I made last year. I thought I'd use it now to offer you, my fabulous followers, a little chocolate treat and to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Thank you all for sharing and making this past year a real treat for me!

I think I hear some of you saying "I want to see the rest of that mug rug" cause that's what you'd hear me saying if this was your post. So, here it is.

Merry Christmas!

Annie

Office Supplies Tote

2011-12-14T04:00:00.000-08:00

Part of the Christmas gift request is for this:

Now, I love office supplies, so that was pretty fun to shop for. But the funner part of the gift request was for a tote to carry them all in. And this is what I came up with for that portion of the gift:

The request was for colorful and not too big.

It measures approx. 8"high, 9-1/2"wide, 4"deep. (I hope that isn't too big)

I think this clear vinyl zippered pocket will be a fun surprise.

Everything fits!

This was the most unexpected gift wish I would ever have expected.

I did not use a pattern. I just made the bag up as I went along.

A lot of experimental guesswork was involved with it's creation.

I sure did have a fun time with it though.

There was a time I would never have considered making something like this without a pattern. I guess I'm getting brave in my old age or maybe it's just blind wreckless crazy...yeah, probably the later.

Go crazy! It's fun!

Annie

Linked to Handmade Christmas Linky Party with Melissa at The Polkadot Chair Blog. There's a lot of inspiration in that linking party...go check it out!

Another Tree Skirt

2011-12-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

**No Math Required!**

I just knew all those years ago that math was NOT going to help me get through life. (ok, just kidding) But!...it really did not come in handy while I was designing this tree skirt. Every calculation along with logic said NO, this will not work out.

Yet, here it is again!

This one I made from the collection, Countdown to Christmas. I think that's such a fun Christmas fabric collection. The one in my tutorial went to my daughter, so this one is for me.

Ho Ho Ho!

Annie

Tutorial: Christmas Tree Skirt

2011-12-08T02:00:00.000-08:00

Annie's Christmas Tree Skirt

Christmas Tree Skirt

how to:

To make this very easy but 'complicated looking' tree skirt, you will need this wedge ruler and 140 charm squares.

This one is by Omnigrid and is a 9 degree Circle Wedge. I've had it forever.

I made this tree skirt from 4 charm packs of Jovial that had 42 squares each.

Charms packs come in a variety of counts, so that will determine the number of packs you will need.

Arrange your squares in columns of 5 squares each. You need a total of 28 columns. Play with them until you have an arrangement that is pleasing to your eye.

Stitch each of the 28 columns into strips of the 5 squares top to bottom. 1/4" seam allowances throughout. Press your seams all in the same direction for all strips. All pressed toward the top or all toward the bottom...it doesn't matter which direction you choose, just press them all the same direction. Keep them in your arranged order as you sew and press them. You just won't believe how quickly this will be completed.

Now for cutting. Take your first strip and place the wedge ruler aligned with the bottom of the strip ...

and aligned at the right hand edge of your strip.

Left handers can do the opposite, it won't matter, just cut them all the same way each time.

This wedge ruler will be about 3/4" shorter than your strip. When you rotary cut along the wedge just continue the cut to the edge of the strip without moving the ruler. It will work fine...it did for me every time. Don't stop at the end of the ruler to think about it, just continue the cut until you are off the fabric strip.

If possible, cut one side and walk around to cut the other side without moving the ruler. It's not necessary to cut the wedge this way, but it's quicker if you don't have to turn the fabric and re-align the ruler for the second cut. For the second cut you will be starting with the narrow end that doesn't reach the edge of your fabric. I aligned my cutter with the ruler about 3" from the end and cut pulling backwards to the end of the fabric. Then realign your cutter in that cut to cut the rest of the wedge as normal.

If you trim your strip at the end of the wedge ruler, nothing bad will happen. You will simply have a larger opening when your strips are all sewn together in a circle. In the end I trim my opening larger anyway, but it is quicker to do it in the end than it is to trim every single strip wedge as I go.

You will now have these slices from your strip.

You will discard the slice on the right (the one with the very pointy tip) to your scrap collection.

The slice on the left will be flipped so that both wide ends are adjacent as shown below. This is how they will be sewn together and you will note that every other wedge now has the seams pressed in opposite directions so they can be butted when the wedges are sewn together...cool, huh?

As you get the wedges cut, keep the wider wedges in the order you arranged them in. You'll need to find a layout that again is pleasing to your eye that includes the narrower wedges between the wider ones.

Begin sewing a wide wedge to a narrow wedge.

Press your seams toward the wide wedge. This will help avoid bulk in the center at the narrow tips, because the narrow tips will disappear to nothing.

Then sew all your wedges together.

Half way together...

Full circle...yeah! Do not sew the very last seam where the ends of your circle meet.

You will only use 27 of your 28 wide wedges, and you will use all 28 of your narrow wedges. Your tree skirt will meet at two narrow wedges which is where you will leave your opening. You probably started sewing your wedges together beginning with a wide wedge, so you will need to add your last narrow wedge to the beginning of your circle.

This tree skirt has no batting. I didn't really want the thickness nor stiffness of a batted quilt. I wanted a very drapable skirt. I considered adding a layer of muslin inside, but finally decided on just the pieced top and a backing.

You can purchase extra wide fabric for a whole un-pieced back. I just went with one and three quarters (1-3/4) yards of a 44-45" wide coordinating fabric and pieced the section that extended past the width of the skirt.

Just like you do with layering a quilt with batting, layer the fabrics with wrong sides together and pin baste. It doesn't really show in the photo but this tree skirt is loaded with safety pins. Cut a slit in the backing fabric where you have left the circle open. Then trim the excess backing fabric away following the outside edge of your pieced top. You can trim the inside circle as well or wait if you decide you want the center opening larger.

I did want the center opening larger so I traced around a whipped topping lid. It seems like a good size.

Because the skirt could now be 'stretchable' as you continue to work with it, I suggest that you stay-stitch the raw edges at about an 1/8 inch from the edge all the way around the skirt.

I didn't want the skirt to be like a bubble with the front and back floating separately. I did faux quilting with stitch in the ditch along the length of each wedge.

In the above photo you see horizontal top stitching. I removed that stitching...it didn't look good...and went with the stitch in the ditch along the lengths of the wedges instead.

Then I added a narrow binding.
The binding is cut on the straight of grain. It is NOT on the bias.

All done!

This tree skirt is an early gift, so I stamped and stitched a tag for it.

Yeah! another gift crossed off the list!

Alternative finishing options:

You can easily add batting for a traditional quilted skirt. You could also lay the top and backing right sides together to stitch around the outside leaving an opening and turn the skirt right side out for enclosed seams. You wouldn't need all that pin basting for that. You could also add lace or a ruffle to the outer edge if you so desire.

As well, this tree skirt can be made for your smaller holiday trees...your Easter egg tree, your creepy Halloween tree, even that wedding money tree. Just cut your wedges from a shorter charm strip and using the narrower end of the wedge.

Design Disclosure Statement:

As far as I know this is my own design. I don't think anyone would publish a mathematically incorrect pattern design. Mathematically incorrect because the narrow wedge has one angled side while the other side is straight. I just hoped they would all go in a circle the way I wanted them to and I was so not disappointed.

As with any of my tutorials that you might give a try, if you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact me. I'd be more than happy to help you.

There are so many possibilities for fabric arrangements for this skirt that I'd love to see yours when you have it together...seriously, I would.

Have fun, Annie

Christmas Fabric Postcards

2011-12-04T03:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas Greetings

I finally seem to have had time to sew several Christmas greetings as fabric postcards. Every year I have big plans and every year I make all of one. Once I got two made.

This year I have one for everyone on my "special card" list. You know the ones...those who actually appreciate not only receiving your Christmas card, but appreciate your hand crafted greetings.

I have nine done this year! Hurray!

Only three designs, but I thought that was pretty good for me. Sometimes I struggle with the small size blank slate and other times I get more ideas than I can apply. You wouldn't think a Christmas theme would be a struggle, but for some reason it was. I'll get plenty of ideas once it's too late to send any more. Ain't that always the way!

JOY Snowman

My favorite Nancy Halverson snowman on my favorite fabric background.

With bells on his toes...

(thank you so much Carol for sending me that binding fabric!)

Well, I wish I could blame old age for not sewing one of his legs, but shit like that happens every now and again. After having a personal but not so quiet hissy fit about it, I thought of my other dear friend Samm who would look for the bright side of this failure. It can only mean one thing.....that when I become famous this card will be quite valuable with it's stitching flaw...right?

Wishing you a good mail day!

Annie

Man-Quilt

2011-11-29T04:00:00.000-08:00

It Was Ugly!

Ok, individually the pieces in this charm pack weren't "all" ugly (I do like a lot of the batiks that are available now)...but together and as a charm pack, I would not have chosen it ... and I didn't.

I received it as an extra in a swap. See, I'm not the only one wanted to make it go away. And I have to admit my first thought was to send it off again to someone else in a swap as an extra. Well, I couldn't do that.

So it's been kicking around here and it's been in the back of my mind since late last Spring. I've never considered making a quilt for my husband...it's just not something that would ever make his list of wants. BUT, I've decided that it could make up into a nice man-quilt. Even if he doesn't end up being the man that gets it. We'll see.

So I've chosen a couple of fabrics to sew with the charm pack and I've decided on a design, and that's what I've been working on between Christmas projects.

And I'm thinking it's not so ugly anymore. The blocks are going together quickly and I'm rather excited about how it's all coming together and how it's starting to look. I have a ways to go yet. This is about a third of the blocks that I need.

I'm happy to be working on another throw quilt again (this will be only #5 for me) rather than just small projects. It makes for a happy mix of stitching therapy! More progress to come later.

I hope you are all accomplishing all the Christmas sewing projects you have on your list. I'm finished with my Christmas sewing list ... unless I see something inspiring on some of the holiday blog hops or on your blog that I think I just have to stitch up right away!

Doing my best to make the season jolly!

Annie

To Prewash or Not

2011-11-20T04:00:00.000-08:00

Is it personal preference to prewash fabric prior to use in a project, or is it necessary?

This question has been a topic of discussion and debate forever. From what I've read, the answer is more personal preference. More times than not I read so many answers informing us that quality fabrics purchased at quality quilt shops will not have a problem with fabric dyes bleeding when laundered. If you choose to believe that, well, that is your choice.

This is a quality cut of fabric purchased at a long established quality quilt shop. It's also the reason why I always prewash my fabrics.

I had already drained the basin a couple of times before I thought to take a photograph. I have serious doubts that color catcher sheets would be able to save all my hard work in a project from this piece of gorgeous red fabric. It took me half a day and over night until the dye stopped bleeding. (Dark blues can be as much a problem as reds can be.)

It doesn't happen to every red fabric but how are you going to know when it will bleed and when it won't. There's only two ways to find out...the hard way (washing your already completed project) or by prewashing.

I just don't think the risk is worth not prewashing fabric. So, for me, I see prewashing as necessary.

I'm off to wash some more new fabric pieces.

Happy stitching to you!

Annie

Rubber Stamping Laundry Test

2011-11-13T03:00:00.000-08:00

I've done a Rubber Stamping
Laundry Test

I've stamped with rubber stamps on fabric for some of my small projects. I've used StazOn ink for this technique even though it states on the ink pad that it is NOT for fabric. It is a permanent ink and has not washed out or run when I have dampened it (usually to remove the purple air soluble ink quickly).

The projects I have stamped on have not been ones that will ever be washed (fabric postcards) and ones that would seldom, if ever, be washed (wall hangings). Because I've been questioned about the permanency of the ink on fabric and during laundering, I've stamped a test piece of muslin and laundered it 6 times.

This piece is my original stamping.

This piece is after the 1st washing in a regular heavy duty laundering.

This piece is after the 6th washing in regular heavy duty laundering and about three times with a good dose of stain remover added to the load.

It definitely has faded some. Mostly with the first wash. There isn't much noticeable difference from the first wash to the 6th wash.

I know that it's rather difficult to photograph all these tests on different days with a variety of lighting although I placed them always in the same place and used an on camera flash. The facts are still visible in the stamping in any case.

For the projects that I use this technique on, I'm completely satisfied with the results that this ink is waterproof on fabric. I wanted to know that when I mailed my fabric postcards and they got wet from rain, or what have you, that the ink wouldn't run.

I will say that I have heard that VersaMark Ink is better on fabric. I don't know that this is true, and I was hoping to have been able to get a pad of this ink to test it with the StazOn, but I have not found it locally yet. However, I will find it and I will test it.

In the meantime, for me, StazOn ink works perfectly for my purposes.

Still happily stamping along,

Annie

Mug Rug Gift

2011-11-09T07:51:00.000-08:00

My gift list sewing is shrinking!

I see a lot of mug rugs made for husbands and boyfriends and although I like them, I just don't envision my husband saying how cool that is and being anxious to use it. So I had not made one for him ... yet. And didn't really think I ever would, to be honest.

Sometimes I need to be banged up the side of my head to see what is right in front of my face! Geezelouise how blind can I be!

My husband brought me a bag from the Harley shop and asked me if I could photocopy it in a different size so that he could trace the emblem shape. All these years this HD icon has been laying around here and laying around there and staring at me in all the clothing and I've only just now woke up to it.

My husband's mug rug has been staring me in the face forever...now it's ready to be wrapped and tucked under the Christmas tree.

And, for once, I know for sure he is going to love it.

Another gift crossed off the list! Hooray again!

Happy holiday sewing to you all!

Annie

I Just Can't Help It!

2011-11-05T02:00:00.000-07:00

I just can't stop myself...please understand it's just my ghastlie personality...

Let It Snow,

Let It Snow!

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I just can't help it, really!

Annie

Ghastlie Blog Hop Week 2

2011-10-30T21:56:00.000-07:00

It's the last ghastlie day of the
Ghastlie Blog Hop
I mean that in a fun way because it's been so ghastlie fun!

Final Day Line Up

ON Friday November 4th
Day 10

Mrs Nan Ghastlie

Mrs. Gmama Jane Ghastlie
Mrs Joan Ghastlie
Mrs. Nancy Ghastlie

Ms Susan Ghastlie
Madame Ghastlie

This ghastlie idea of Madame Samm's was a really fun blog hop! The ghastlies fabric is quite unique allowing our own ghastly minds to come out of the closet and create openly and to show our ghastlie concoctions for all of blogland to see!

Have a ghastlie good day all!
Annie

Fabric Postcard Swap on Flickr

2011-10-27T06:50:00.000-07:00

Last day to get in on the fun!

Sign-ups are now open for

the Fabric Postcard Swap group on Flickr!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/fabricpostcard/

Two themes are available to choose from or you can create a card for both themes:

Winter

and/or

Sewing Room Road Sign...

...meaning a road sign that could be found in your sewing space, related to sewing, of course.

Get your creative minds working and come join in the fun!

There are a variety of tutorials on this world wide web to help you...even I have one you can check out here.

We're going back to the swap being secret partners so it's always fun watching sneak peeks and whole cards being posted and making comments and wondering if they are the one that will come in your mailbox.

Sign-ups are open through October 30th
http://www.flickr.com/groups/fabricpostcard/

Wishing everyone a fun mail day!
Annie

Ghastlie Blog Hop Winners!

2011-10-26T10:59:00.000-07:00

The lucky Ghastlie Blog Hop winner for Tuesday's grand prize is

Cherise

WOW Cherise, congratulations!

And the lucky winner of my Ghastlie mug rug and postcard is

tpott

Congratulations Toni! Your winnings will be on their merry way to you this week!

Thank you to each and every one of you who visited and is visiting my blog on the blog hop. I am having loads of trouble with Internet this morning, but you will hear from me personally to thank you for your kind and wonderful comments on my ghastlie projects. I have almost 300 comments to respond to, I've been through about 100 of them so far. They are so heartwarming!

Enjoy the remaining blogs with so many project ideas for these ghastlies and any other favorite fabric line you have.

Annie

Rubber Stamping on Fabric

2011-10-26T02:00:00.000-07:00

This tutorial was created for Madame Samm's Sew We Quilt blog and I know of no other way to get this tutorial on my own blog other than re-posting it here. So, please excuse my duplication of this post if you've already seen it.

A Ghastlie Tea Party!

Oh please, do come in...

The tea cups are paper pieced. I fussy cut the images and fused them to the background fabric using Wonder Under.

The images are not appliqued after the paper piecing is done...they were fused to the cup background fabric prior to the paper piecing process. Positioning them to line up as I wanted them to was rather tricky and my seam ripper was a little busier than I liked. But, where there's a will there's a way!...not to mention a sheer determination on my part to have my way! My paper piecing tutorial and that fun stripe border tutorial are listed over there on the right under "Tutorials"

What I'd like to show you today is the rubber stamping on fabric. This too was sheer determination on my part to come up with a permanent, washable solution for my desire to incorporate my rubber stamping with my sewing/quilting.

These are your supplies needed

Fabric or project you wish to stamp on

Ruler and air soluble pen (optional)

Small ruler that is thicker than standard

StazOn Ink Pad

StazOn Cleaner

Rubber Stamps

If you just plan to stamp an image, you won't need rulers. The rulers are for stamping words in a straight line.

Draw your lines with a standard ruler and air soluble pen.

Place the small thicker ruler along your drawn line and be sure to hold it in place until your letters for that line are all stamped. When stamping the letters, keep the wood against the ruler.

Unless you have an absolutely perfectly spaced set of letter/number stamps, they will most likely look a bit wonky - which is exactly what I like about this process. Although spacing of the letters takes practice and most likely will be wonkily spaced, at least they will all be lined up along the bottom edge.

I normally wait until the purple lines disappear before I work with the stamped area with an iron. Depending on your fabric, the heat from the iron can set your disappearing ink into the fabric which makes it harder to remove but not impossible...yes, I know this from experience. But, if you're in a hurry to get to working with it, just dip a small paintbrush in water and hurry the disappearing along quickly. Remember, the StazOn ink is permanent, it dries quickly and is washable so the water will not disturb your stamping...yes, I know this from experience as well.

This particular alphabet set of rubber stamps I found at Michael's in their $1 bins. What a bargain! I like the mix of upper and lower case letters.

There's no limit to what and where you can stamp on your projects. It's a wonderful alternative to the times you are limited to where an image or words are placed on your project when you have to use an ink jet printer.

I'll be watching for your projects using this technique.

Happy stamping everyone!

Ghastlie Inspiration Projects

2011-10-25T00:23:00.000-07:00

Welcome to this Ghastlie Blog Hop

Madame Samm one day said, "let's have a Ghastlie Blog Hop" (or something like that), so here we are, doing just that! How fun!

My project ideas started with this Ghastlie Tea Party

Which is right now currently serving up a tutorial over at Sew We Quilt. I'm over there giving away all my little secrets for rubber stamping on fabric. It's quite easy and extremely fun...check it out when you're finished here. You can find my paper piecing tutorial and this fun border stripe tutorial over there on the right side of my blog listed under Tutorials.

I can't really even take credit for this next project. In my tutorial for that fun stripe border I showed how I use one of my mug rugs as an ironing pad while I do small paper pieced projects using my "iron on a stick" for pressing the seams. Madame Samm honed right in on that! So this ghastlie ironing pad (larger than a mug rug) is for right next to your sewing machine for those mini pressing jobs...well, soon it will be right next to Samm's machine for her mini pressing jobs.

Next, is a mug rug for your mug and snack. Somehow I've ended up with an extra mug rug so, when you make comments here today and you mention you'd like to have this mug rug,

you will have a chance to win this ghastlie mug rug...and I doubt that it will travel alone. In fact, it will travel with this ghastlie postcard of the Ghastlie Knitters.

And here is finally my quite involved Ghastlie project that is still a work in progress. I've no clue what possessed me to create this tedious applique monster. Yes, every letter is individually cut and raw edge appliqued to the background. It had to be done, I'd already decided. All the while stitching I kept wondering what I was punishing myself for.

Each character was cut from the orange background fabric and fused to that fun thin line black and white fabric and again, raw edge appliqued.
It's a 36" circle and intended as a table mat. I suppose it could be placed on the floor as well, but I don't at the moment have a floor that nobody walks on. This is not the design that I started out with. That one didn't work out. So, this one is still evolving...there will yet be some bats and pumpkins for color and maybe another bird, and after that...well, who knows at this point. I just keep plugging along with it.

The ghastlies are not necessarily a Halloween themed fabric, but that's how they always play out in my mind. They live amongst us every day, but they really fit in during our Halloween fun.

Now don't forget if you leave a comment here for me, I will draw one name to send over to Madame Samm to enter in today's grand prize drawing on her blog and I'll draw another name as the winner of my Ghastlie mug rug and postcard.

I'd love it if you'd add yourself to my collage of followers at the top of my blog...you'd look so cool up there!

Here is today's ghastlie line up of blogs to hop:

Mrs. Annie Ghastlie (You are here)

Mrs Doris Ghastlie

Mrs Brandie Ghastlie

Ms. Alidiza Ghastlie

Mrs. JudyC Ghastlie

Have a ghastlie good time on this Ghastlie Blog Hop!
Thank you so much for visiting today.

Welcome to our Ghastlie Blog HOP

2011-10-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

Ghastlie Blog Hop now going on!

Line up of Ghastlie Bloggers

ON Tuesday October 25th

Mrs. Annie Ghastlie

This would be me! Hey, I'm also a guest blogger this same day over at Sew We Quilt.

Mrs Doris Ghastlie

Mrs Brandie Ghastlie

Ms. Alidiza Ghastlie

Mrs. JudyC Ghastlie

Each and every single day at the end of each day

there will be a grand prize winner at
Madame Samm's blog. There will also be giveaway

winners on some of the individual blogs as well.

Fabric Postcard Swap - Sign Up Now!

2011-10-22T02:00:00.000-07:00

Sign-ups are now open for

the Fabric Postcard Swap group on Flickr!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/fabricpostcard/

Two themes are available to choose from or you can create a card for both themes:

Winter

and/or

Sewing Room Road Sign...

...meaning a road sign that could be found in your sewing space, related to sewing, of course.

Get your creative minds working and come join in the fun!

There are a variety of tutorials on this world wide web to help you...even I have one you can check out here.

Sign-ups are open through October 30th
http://www.flickr.com/groups/fabricpostcard/

Wishing everyone a fun mail day!
Annie

Get Ready!...

2011-10-21T02:00:00.000-07:00

The Ghastlie Blog Hop is coming!

Starting Monday!

October 24th

So grab your favorite blog hopping beverage,

settle into your favorite blog hopping seat and click around to see what I and 50-some others have come up with to inspire you with this ghastlie gang. Guaranteed fun!

Be there or be square!

hahaha...I had to say it!

You Are My Inspiration!

2011-10-14T09:09:00.000-07:00

You are SO much my inspiration, that I've moved you to the top of my blog. Actually, I saw you all (and many, many more) on another blog and loved seeing you there. So I rushed right over here to put you there on mine as well. But now I can't remember where I saw this. It's the first time I saw followers at the top and I just felt that's right where you should be because most of the time you are the ones who inspire me ... on your blogs and on flickr.

I gave you a title, "Let's follow each other and be Inspired" but that part hasn't shown up. I wonder why. Well, yet anyway.

Thank you all for inspiration and thanks for your visits!

Annie

A New Halloween Quilt

2011-10-12T02:00:00.000-07:00

...someday!

I can't wait to make another Halloween quilt! I really want to try one of those jelly roll quilts...or at least a variation of one. Especially after seeing them in this blog post.

I haven't really seen a jelly roll of Halloween fabrics that catches my fancy, so I've decided to make one up for myself. I have 12 fabrics strips ready to go.

And when I get back to my stash in Wisconsin, I'm sure I won't have any trouble coming up with the other 30 fabric strips needed to make the quilt. The sad news?...that won't happen until next Spring/Summer!...at least I hope it happens by then...oh, woes me...!

Thanks for stopping by. Any and all sympathy is appreciated!

Annie

A Little Weekend Jaunt

2011-10-11T02:00:00.000-07:00

Along the Pacific Ocean coast. It's so nice to know the ocean was right where we'd left it some 20 odd years ago.

And just as beautiful, too!

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful October day.

These photos are taken in Monterey, California.

Toto, I don't think we're in Wisconsin anymore... (although I've heard it's been pretty nice in Wisconsin for October!)

Throw Quilt #4

2011-10-07T02:00:00.000-07:00

This is only my 4th "large" quilt. 45" X 76" It's just a simple whole cloth that I added borders to.

It's Dad's Christmas present. He always likes the whole cloth backs of my quilts better than the pieced fronts. I'm not sure how to take that. In any case, this old house is cold and he's elderly and he uses quilts a lot! He's worn out the ones my mother has made for him.

A length of fabric isn't wide enough so I add borders on the front and back. You know, those borders are NOT the easiest thing to line up when you sandwich the layers!...and they HAVE to be lined up. I do my own quilting with my Bernina 1230...it only has a 7" throat...not the easiest thing to do, but the most affordable, so it's straight line quilted in one continuous line. Meaning I didn't sew from edge to edge and cut threads. I stitched a continuous line from side to side from one end to the other in only the quilt center section. That meant that when I was close to either end the entire quilt had to be inside the machine throat...yep, I'll be trying to avoid that situation in the future!

I haven't decided whether I made the right choice for the binding or not. A solid might have looked better. I hardly ever think to consider solids...there are SO many prints and I love them all so! Dad is going to say it has clown stuff all around it...I'll just betcha he does.

And then there's that perfectionist illness I am afflicted with. I couldn't just piece my bindings end to end.....those stripes HAD to match!

When you line those up 6 or so times, it gets easier as you go along. I think I done good...only ripped out one for a redo.

So, one name crossed off the Christmas list as done...YES!

The quilt top fabric is Williamsburg Fok Art Village by Windham Fabrics Pattern No.31910 (according to the selvage).

Thanks for stopping by,

Annie

Tutorial: Fun Stripe Border

2011-10-04T02:00:00.000-07:00

I have been having the best fun with this stripe border.

And I want to show you how I make it.

You guessed it...paper piecing!

I just cannot get anything like this straight or uniform in size by cutting the pieces and sewing them together. Paper piecing comes to mind as a solution for the simple fact that paper will not stretch.

If you've had trouble with my ice cream cone tutorial, this one may just clear up some of your confusion, as this is the exact same technique and process but on a very basic level.

I know this is a lengthy tutorial, but I don't plan on any more paper piecing tuts. If you can't figure it out now, then you must pay my travel expenses to come to you for hands on personal training. LOL

These next photos just continue to walk with you through the continued process. After the first block of white, I work with the entire fabric strip to cut waste and not worry about whether my fabric piece is long enough to work with.

When your strip is complete, you can trim the long edges to have a 1/4" seam allowance ready to sew to your project.

Have fun and I want to see your borders,

Annie

Crème Glacée

2011-09-29T02:00:00.000-07:00

The one and only, Madame Samm, designed this oh-so-me blog. She designed it, she organized it and then she spent the time to teach me how to use it. I just love what she came up with and I'm mystified that she saw me so clearly!

In return she asked for ice cream.

I don't blog so good yet, but I definitely can do ice cream!

Originally I designed this cone pattern for a table mat for my daughter for her birthday and it eventually evolved into this end result.

I don't really enjoy mass production or even duplication when a creation is intended for a specific reason. So, I really needed Samm's ice cream to be different. Immediately I was in a rough patch to come up with a different design. It didn't really work, I still only liked the same color cones, hard as I tried to change them, and I still only liked the same center arrangement.

Then I got stuck again for a border. This I had to muse on for a couple of weeks before I finally thought about my recent thin paper pieced stripe design. I think it will work...

I moved on to the quilting letting the cones dictate where the quilting went.

I'm pretty pleased with this new Crème Glacée table mat. French is Samm's first language so I thought a french title was fitting for her. Not to mention that the words ice cream in french just look as delicious as the cones don't you agree?

When I added the little cone dot just inside the binding, I didn't cut the fabric thinking about where the dots would fall. They show only in sections...I immediately thought I have to take those off and fussy cut the dotted strips...then I took another look...I think it adds visual interest the way it is. so, it stays put.

Gosh darn it! Another little quiltie that was so hard to let drop into that big blue postal box. I hope you like it too Samm.

Enjoy a lovely end of summer ice cream social!

Annie

It's time to sew for Halloween!

2011-09-27T02:00:00.000-07:00

How frightfully fun is that?!

It's the time of year where we can just let our imagination and creativity run wild with some fun creations. Some come out seriously beautiful and others come out quirky and whimsical and sometimes just plain silly.

Back in the day...I didn't much use my imagination. I looked for books and patterns to use. And I pretty much had to like the whole thing at the prices of patterns and books. Now I use at least some imagination...for instance, this spooky pumpkin patch comes from several sources. The woven background is from a book, the pumpkin is from an applique pattern, the twisted pumpkin vine and quilt label came from my imagination, the crows came from a rubber stamp.

So I'm looking at books and patterns completely different now than I did "back in the day". I see bits and pieces of ideas rather than the whole of what is presented. And, as you can see, those bits and pieces come from everywhere!

It's Halloween Mug Rug Swap time on Flickr!

My favorite swap time.

We are assigned secret partners who give us an indication of what types of things they like and dislike and we then create from there. I've been pretty lucky with partners for one of the rules is that the mug rug has to be fashioned to their likes. This is the one rule that I don't get along very well with because if I want to receive in a swap something that I'd make for myself, well then, why don't I just make it myself? In a swap I want to receive something that my partner wants to make and I want it to tell me something about that person and their creative soul. (Well don't I just feel better about airing that in public) In any case, we then get to post sneak peeks as we create...

Carol says "no sneak peeks!" that that's just for the doll quilt swap. Ok, so maybe we could call them progress peeks. Either way, if you go check out the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap you'll see that Carol has been out-voted in favor of sneak peeks. Sorry Carol. They're just too fun not to do them. My partner's mug rug is finished now and waiting to be mailed.

We can include bits of goodies if we so desire...like candy, fabric pieces, stickers, whatever we find that we might like to send. Only the mug rug is mandatory but extra little goodies are just fun to include. It seems to have become my signature thing to include a fabric postcard. And...

It's Halloween fabric postcard swap time on Flickr too!

Check out this Fabric Postcard Swap. Although it's too late to join in for Halloween and Fall, you could be getting ready for Christmas...I would think there will be another round for the holidays.

So I have two postcards ready to send. I can't say who gets which yet. And, I just might make one or two more before it's time to send them...just to keep my partner wondering what she'll get...since the postcard swap is not a secret partner swap at this point.

For myself, I'm enjoying my Halloween quilt that I made last year.

Those gorgeous pumpkins were made for me by a wonderful friend.

Have a frightfully good fun time preparing for the onslaught of ghouls that are sure to come soon!

Annie

I'm back from my little run-about...

2011-09-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

...and busy trying to catch up with all of you and what you've been up to while I was playing biker chic.

Off For 3 Days of Irresponsible Fun!

2011-09-22T18:54:00.000-07:00

Destination:

Street Vibrations

Reno, Nevada

I have a list of quilt shops in and near Reno! Now how to get my ride to take me to one or two of them...

Have a great weekend everyone! See you on the flip side.

Annie

Fabric Postcard and Binding Tutorial

2011-09-19T02:00:00.000-07:00

I've had several requests to explain how I bind my fabric postcards. So I'm finally getting around to posting a tutorial of my process.

You really aren't going to believe how simple this is!

But first, you need your postcard front design, a layer of Innerfuse (or some other double sided fusible craft interfacing), a light to medium weight regular fusible interfacing and a backing to write your message on and finally, a piece of parchment paper or a pressing sheet that the fusible won't stick to.

Step 1: Create your postcard front design. Save any top stitching or quilting for after you have fused it to the Innerfuse. Trim the front design, the Innerfuse and the backing to your desired postcard finished size. Mine are always 4" x 6". On your ironing surface, lay out the parchment paper. Then the Innerfuse. Place your design on top. Fuse together (no steam). When cool, lift the piece off the parchment paper (which, by the way, can be used over and over again).

Now do ALL your stitching before you add the backing.

I use a paper backing because I really do mail my postcards and I like that it's easier to write on paper. I also like the security of knowing the stamp will remain on the postcard. However, you certainly can use fabric as your backing.

I have made a template for the paper backings with three pre-printed cards on a sheet. I photocopy the sheet, then I fuse the entire wrong side of the paper with a piece of regular fusible interfacing. The cards are then cut apart to the right size.

Now fuse your backing to your completed card top. Allow it to cool.

Choose your binding fabric and cut a 3/4" strip long enough for all four sides of your card. Press this strip in half lengthwise.

I usually cut the short lengths first, then the longer lengths after the short lengths are attached.

With a glue stick, run glue along the edge of the paper side or back side of the card. Be careful not to get the glue out farther than the binding will cover. It's just to hold the binding in place until it is sewn down.

Place the glued paper side down on one half of the binding. Repeat for the other short side.

On the front of your card, run glue along the edge being careful not to extend the glue farther than the binding will cover. Fold over the binding to the front and press it into the glue.

Cut binding lengths for the long edges and repeat the glue process first gluing to the back and then to the front.

When all the edges have binding glued on, just run the iron over both sides lightly to melt any little glue globs that might have happened. I know you're thinking this is going to gum up your needle...nope!...your needle will not have a clue that it was anywhere near glue.

Now we're ready to stitch that binding down permanent. With a straight stitch, back tack to just off the edge. Then stitch forward just to the inside edge of the binding.

Change your stitch to a zigzag. You'll have to find the best satin stitch length for your machine. I set my machine for a width of 3 and just a smidge longer than my preset satin stitch.

This now is the reason to fuse interfacing to the back of the paper backing. The satin stitch will perforate the paper. The interfacing assures you that your backing will still remain connected to the card.

Satin stitch all the way across to where the binding meets again. Straight stitch to the edge, back tack to the satin stitch, turn your card, repeating the stitching for the first three sides.

When I get to the last edge, I pull my starting thread tails across the binding so that they will get stitched into the satin stitching.

When I get to the end, I sew several tiny straight stitches along the inside of the satin stitching to finish the sewing.

Keep the raw edges at the corners from fraying by adding a tiny bit of fray check along the edge. Not too much, mind you.

If the satin stitched binding edges leave little frays sticking out, trim them close.

WhaLa...all done!

You can view all my fabric postcards displayed as a set in my Flickr photostream here

Lots of people like to just satin stitch the raw edges of their layers together. I like the way the binding and contrasting satin stitch frame the little art work within. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may still have.

Good mail day to you,

Annie

The Dressmaker Collage is Framed!

2011-09-14T02:00:00.000-07:00

I am so pleased with how the entire final project turned out.

My Dad does nice woodworking don't you think?

My creative process is rather unorthodox. At least I've never read or heard of anyone else that goes through my same process. I hardly ever have a finished product in mind. My process goes like this:

I see an object that I want to put into fabric. In this case it's a dressmaker form...and I want it to be paper pieced. So I trace a form shape I like, then change it into a paper piecing pattern, then give it a test run with fabric and sewing machine.

Ah, I like how it turned out! Ok, so that's the end of the plan. It gets laid aside with other project beginnings and I wait until it speaks to me or until I get inspired in some other way of what I'd like to do with it.

In this case, I was looking through some ephemera and collage downloads I have purchased and came across the assorted measuring tapes and the sheet of advertisements. I thought somehow I could work them into whatever it was going to be with the dressmakers form. I printed them to fabric, cut some out, and started arranging them around the dress form.

Then I started thinking about all the sewing notions I'm surrounded with that go back as far as my grandmother. Now we're talking antiques! And since everything else began looking aged, a collage of antique sewing emerged into this piece that was so fun to create.

I knew right away that I wanted to frame it. My 84 year old father likes to dabble with wood. I gave him the inside opening measurement, said not too ornate or busy design-wise because the collage was already very busy. This is what he came up with and I think it works perfectly!

Crazy process, eh? But it works for me and always has. Lots of flickr contacts said to frame it in an antique frame. But, Dad's frame means so much more to me...especially with the other small connections to my mother and grandmother within the collage.

Thanks so much for spending some of your day with me today!

Annie

Paper Piecing Tutorial

2011-09-12T02:00:00.002-07:00

This is my paper piecing tutorial that I created for my guest appearance at Sew We Quilt back in August. Many of you have already viewed it. I just want to get it on my blog now.

I've never written one before and I applaud those of you who have. Like so many others, I feel that I have discovered several steps to "easier" paper piecing that I simply must share. I'm much better at teaching in person, so bear with me on this... Are you ready? Would you like to make this?

I first discovered paper piecing as a sure way to sew perfect quilt squares with perfect points because I did not at all like the idea of cutting all those little pieces and stitching them together just so and perfectly...I knew that wasn't going to happen. Being inflicted with the "perfectionist" illness without the patience for it, traditional quilt blocks were not going to be in my future. But I also was drawn to how many perfect little cutsie designs could be created with paper piecing. I can applique endlessly, but having the designs with stitched-in seams was very enticing for me. After laying out a small fortune for books and patterns, I was initially disappointed that nothing was coming out perfect! AND, I was spending way too much time with my seam ripper and getting such poor results. However, as usual, persistence pays off and I discovered little secrets and tips that have made paper piecing easier and quite enjoyable. So much so that I've even taught myself to make some of my own patterns. So, without further ado, let's stitch up my ice cream cone pattern.

First, get your pattern on paper that you will stitch on. You don't need fancy paper...I use regular 20# copy paper. This pattern is in 4 sections and you may be thinking that it's too complicated for a beginner...NOT!...with my tips for you, there is no such thing as a complicated paper piecing pattern. (At least that's how I feel about it now.) Cut the sections apart...don't be precise, just cut outside the seam allowance line.

Gather your fabrics. These can be from your scrap bin or you can make new scraps. I use both, depending on whether I have scraps for my plan or not. This particular pattern needs more background fabric than ice cream fabric so I just have chunks that are large enough for each scoop. But for the background fabric that will require several sections within each section, refer to the next photo.

Take note of which background section is the largest and about what size it is at it's widest part. Then add maybe a 1/2" to that measurement and slice a strip off your yardage to use for all your background pieces. Again, no need to be preceise...you'll have the whole lenghth to work with if the short end is not wide enough. Now you're ready to start stitching. Set your machine stitch length for a shorter than usual length. I normally stitch at 2-1/2 so I stitch paper piecing at just under 2.

It doesn't matter which section you start with. It only matters that you sew in numerical order with each section. (Even this rule can have exceptions, but for learning purposes, let's stick with the numerical order rule.) Take your cone fabric, lay it wrong side to the plain side of the paper being sure it covers past the cone lines. This is the only time you will want to hold this up to the light to be sure it covers. And you don't need to give a hoot about straight of grain...love that! Next...

...and here's where life gets really easy...(and every section you sew here after will be done this same way)...hold your pattern facing you with the next number section above the previous number section that you placed or just sewed. With your thumbs, mark each end of the sewing line. Fold it forward enough to see that you will place it on the right side of the background fabric strip with enough for a seam allowance showing and that there is still background fabric going past each of your thumbs. You need at least an 1/8" of seam allowance. Everything after that will get cut off. I usually allow about 1/4". Bring everything to your machine (the photo just shows the seam allowance you will have after sewing.) Keeping your pattern and two pieces of fabric in that position lying flat to stitch on the paper pattern line.

Now, some patterns end up with a pile of seams all in one place...such as a pinwheel...and you will want to press your seams open rather than to one side. If you want to press them open, you cannot sew all the way across the seam allowance. I always make only one stitch in the seam allowance (this also helps for trimming 1/8" seam allowances which in turn keeps fabric bulk at a minimum. Stitch on the line and at the end, sew only one stitch into the seam allowance. Now for trimming...

Flip the sewn section over to the fabric side and trim "all" the fabrics in that seam allowance to 1/8". (Trim them all together, not one at a time) DO NOT CUT THE PAPER! Now here is where I can't believe I didn't take a pressing photo...but open your newly sewn piece and press it back over it's seam allowance. It is said that you only need to finger press, but that isn't pressed enough for me. I use an "iron on a stick" (Clover mini iron) or my regular iron. Then from your pattern side, chop away the excess fabric outside the seam allowance.

Now find your next number, hold the pattern so that number is at the top and repeat the above steps until there is fabric behind every number.

Now getting the sections ready to be joined...

When you photo copy a pattern, there is every possibility that it won't be the "exact" size as the original. So even though I draw a 1/4" seam allowance around my pattern, I still cut that 1/4" allowance by the measurement of my ruler...it usually cuts just outside my drawn line. Now we're ready to join the sections...but first, a few helpful extra tips to get you through the paper piecing process even easier...

Many times a necessary section will only be sewn in by a couple of stitches. After stitching be sure to hold the stitches in place as you pull the stitching away from the presser foot to cut your thread...otherwise you'll just pull them right out.

Don't worry about how much fabric you have in your seam allowance when your sew a piece in because you will trim away all but an 1/8" anyway. These chunks you cut off can be used for small sections as you go along.

You can see in my example that my top scoop fabric is way more than I needed. I actually changed the direction I was going to use it in, but as long as you end up with your fabric pieces extended past the sewing lines, too big is not a concern...too small is a major concern. You can hold your work up to the light to check it if you need to.

And this next one is important because a mistake will no doubt happen at some time...

Remove your stitches carefully, I would suggest one at a time so as not to disturb the paper. 20# copy paper is pretty tough, but if you use something lighter, be careful not to tear it...too much. When you resew the line, stitch in the same exact holes...and I say this, because if you still don't sew it correctly...because I probably got distracted :-)...and you need to take the stitches out again, your paper pattern will remain intact.

Now we're ready to connect out sections...

I join these sections from the bottom up but it doesn't really matter which order you do them.

The seam joining the cone and the first yummy scoop is a straight seam, so you just line them up and stitch all the way across. Be sure you've sewn the right seams together...then before pressing them, I remove the paper in the seam allowance. Fold it over, then tear it away. You can now either press the seam to one side or press it open.

Now for the angled seams. These are the ones that really got to me and made me cringe when I saw a pattern in sections. I could never get them right until I finally figured out how to easily...

Lay the sections together the way they go. Push a pin through the corresponding seam line corners of both pieces being sure the pin comes through both corner points. Hold the piece so the pin is straight across...this will keep your two sections exactly as they need to be. I wouldn't pin the sections together because once you angle the pin, the sections will slip slightly apart. If you're trying to match points, you won't be happy about that! Get the piece into sewing position before removing the pin at the end. It really isn't difficult, just be sure it stays where you want it when you begin to sew. You can even touch the seam allowance lightly with a glue stick for an assisted temporary hold. If your design requires matching a section in the center of the piece, poke your pins through those matching spots rather than at the ends. Stitch, check your match, tear the paper from the seam as you did previously and press.

Sometimes with angled seams (and in the center of pinwheels) you'll end up with too much seam bulk. By not stitching all the way through your seam allowances (as previously mentioned) you can press part of the seam open and the rest can be pressed to one side. When seams overlap, you can press the bulky sections up and down as shown below.

Now let's tear away the rest of the paper...

Work from the outside to the inside. Fold the paper up on the stitched line then tear away. The inside pieces tear away easier. I like to use tweezers with teeth to grab small pieces. It doesn't really matter if every tiny bit of paper is removed.

( You can get a copy of pattern here, I just loaded it to google documents) thanks to Annie for adding this ...)

To finish off the top and bottom, I've sewn on a sash piece. I turned this tutorial piece into a postcard because I promised Madame Samm a tutorial on my postcard binding. Watch for that in the near future.

Your paper piecing patterns can be done in any size you want them just by reducing and enlarging the pattern. The lime sherbet cone is at 50% the size of the original. Just remember when you reduce and enlarge that included 1/4" seam allowances will not be at 1/4" anymore.

I more enjoy the smaller paper piecing projects than the full size quilt sizes, but any size can be sewn in the manner as I've shown above. If I've left you still feeling you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Following are some of my paper piecing projects.

Make mine a triple scoop please..

Nosey Parkey Meow!

This Bird is Paper Pieced!

Selvages Spool

Wonky Christmas Tree

Butterfly Potholder

Form!

Madame Samm wanted me to send this to her to FRAME.

( do you think she would ever send it back? ) lol

I love it when I learn something new, so I hope I've been able to make paper piecing just a little easier for those that have been frustrated by it in the past.

Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say!

2011-09-09T02:00:00.000-07:00

When we arrived in the Midwest 17 years ago, it was the beginning in that we noticed people would say they would do something that, in the end, would never happen. Lots of those so called empty promises were not necessarily meaningful. But the ones that required planning ahead are most relevant. Too many times we found ourselves waiting for...nothing. We found ourselves contacting the involved party to get more details to plan better...the involved party suddenly had no clue what we were talking about. Now we're back here on the west coast and it's happening here. What gives?!

Do so many people just talk to hear themselves talk? I just cannot even imagine telling a friend I'd do something and then completely nonchalantly act like I never really meant it or simply think nothing of not remembering. I know forgetful, that's when you truly intend to follow through...but that isn't the case here. If this never happens to you, consider yourself lucky.

This falsehood in communication can be disappointing and in many cases, hurtful. No matter how innocently it has been presented. Please people, think before you speak and say what you mean and then mean what you say!

Well don't I feel better now!

So let's go sew something...

Annie

It's Me In Fabric

2011-09-08T02:00:00.000-07:00

I'm #9 in Carol's (mamacjt) Ladies Series! I'm so flippin' honored to be included in these awesome fabric creations! Thank you so much Carol!

Don't I just look absolutely wonderful?! She got my age exactly right - 26! My body might not agree with that age, but it's all mind over matter...and my mind says I'm 26.

Carol told me while I was traveling across the US in a little postal truck that she wasn't real happy with my hair color because it blended into the white background too much. Well, when I arrived yesterday afternoon...looking absolutely fabulous, I might add...I thought a little trip to the sewing machine beauty parlor and a bit of a medium brown thread outline just might do the trick to separate my hair from the background. I think it worked. Carol thinks it's better but a bit on the wild side now....well, that's me!

To top off this package, she included a book, "Out Of The Box with easy blocks" about free-form piecing. This looks quite interesting. And a couple of fun fabric pieces...look at that strip of selvage on that bright stripe! Fun!

Again, thank you so much, Carol!

Have a great day everyone!

Annie

Mail Art

2011-09-06T02:00:00.000-07:00

When I have the time, and I feel my mail recipient will enjoy it, I love to send their mail addressed in a fun way. I do this because I think it is/would be fun to go to the mailbox and collect an artful envelope mixed in with the dreaded bills.

You all know that I love making and sending fabric postcards. I've only managed to find two postcard swaps to participate in and both are finishing up right now.

First was The Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap with the theme, Bloom. The card could be made with any media or mix of media but had to have some stitching on it in some way. My interpretation and creation with this

Always Look Your Blooming Best

I printed the woman from an add out of an old magazine onto photo paper then cut her out (except for her head). I then rubber stamped the pocket watch, words, numbers and dots. After that I stitched the photo in place, adding the fabric rose bud for her head and added some stitched lines. This postcard was sent to New Zealand.

From my partner I received this beautifully sewn "Bloom" postcard that traveled to me all the way from North Yorkshire, England from Sarah. It arrived marked "Royal Mail"...awesome, eh? Thank you Sarah!

Also was the Fabric Postcard Swap with an End of Summer theme where we were to create in fabric our interpretation of what the end of summer means to us. I stuck with a blooming theme with this postcard

The end of summer means the end of the explosion of color with flowers in the gardens that are everywhere we go. I will miss that during the darker months (although those months won't be near as long here in California as they are in Wisconsin!)

And from my partner in this swap I received this one from Lisa, miniaturequilter.

She and her friend like to picnic and sew together in the summer. She's got such cute fussy cuts added for the picnic but those marching ants really get my attention. Thanks, Lisa!

I always send my postcards naked because to me, that's how postcards are meant to travel the world. These little jewels of creation would be so fun mixed in with ordinary "bills" and "junk" mail. But, alas, mine always come tucked inside an envelope, not looking much different than the rest of my mail. I'm going to keep playing and one day I'm sure to get a naked postcard in my mail.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by,

Annie

First Birthday and registered for gifts?

2011-09-02T02:00:00.000-07:00

Somebody please tell me this isn't true!

Boy, I must really be out of touch with the children's birthday party circuit. I don't even know what to say about this except, huh?...excuse me, did I read this right? I'm not usually at a loss for words...but I am on this one. It's a first birthday party...not a wedding or baby shower. The child is going to be 1 year old...it's not like he's going to have any clue what the heck is even going on. How long was I in Wisconsin anyway?!

All In A Row wall quilt inspiration

2011-08-30T02:00:00.000-07:00

I made this little quilt for the Little Quilt - Sew, Vote, Swap Group

I was inspired by these quilt as you go blocks by Marianne Haak, MariQuilts Strips On Stripes. Marianne's style for quilts is so awesome! I could look at her quilts all day long. Anyway, I started with a favorite piece of fabric of mine...the black and white stripe. I cut through it to insert the black and white check. Since it's a quilt as you go (QAYG), I layered the batting and just a muslin back since it's intended to hang on the wall. Then I started choosing fabrics to sew/quilt between the stripes...making new colorful stripes. I loved the way the strips were making the check look.

This little quilt was always intended for the swap. But I really liked it and did not want to let it go. I hung it on the wall thinking I'd get tired of looking at it. Then the more I looked at it, the more I thought I'd like maybe the same thing with a bit more white in the background and less black stripes. So I went scrounging around for a different b&w stripe. I found this:

It's an inexpensive grade of fabric (you can tell when you work with it it gets fuzzy looking) but it would be good for a trial run as a mug rug. I could let my husband use it and not care when it turned coffee stained. It came out looking like so:

I liked it, it showed more white, but I wasn't real happy with the stripe. I

decided the background fabric needed to be white with a black pinstripe. Well of course I decided that...I could not find that fabric anywhere local or in cyberland. If I wanted that, I was going to have to make it myself.

So I did. I sewed fat white strips of fabric to black strips of fabric so that the black strip would end up being 1/8". I really hate when my plan of attack doesn't work out! That wasn't straight no matter how careful I was. You guessed it...you're NOT gonna see a picture of that!

For several days I "mused" on this seemingly impossible want. It finally hit me! The way to make my own stripes and have them straight was to paper piece them! Geezelouise why did that take so long?! so I did these paper pieced stripes:

and then stitched in the checks:

and then stitched in some colorful stripes and added the binding for this end result:

All three of these little quilts turned out different looking. I'm considering taking the black binding off this last one and trying either white or one of my other b&w tiny tight stripe bindings. But at the moment, my first one is still my favorite. I guess I have to call it Julie's now, not mine...it's been mailed...it was so hard to let it drop into that big blue box knowing I could not get it back out. hahaha. I've teased on flickr that if my partner seriously doesn't really like it, she could send it back to me. Which she can, but if she does want to keep it, I COULD make myself another. I'm just not good at making the same thing more than once...so it'll probably never happen. I hope you enjoy my little quilt, Julie.

I received this meticulously created little quilt in exchange. It was created by Martha Wolf (moogiequilter).

I love this little creation so much that I'm not missing mine quite so much anymore. Thank you Martha!

Thanks for stopping by today,

Annie

Why Flickr if you're just gonna say "Blogged here"

2011-08-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

It took me forever to Blog because I found blogs confusing and couldn't figure out how to find stuff on them. So prior to now blogging, I only flickr'd. Now, I think most people that upload photos to flickr are hoping to get some nice comments on their photography or their artistic abilities of their crafts.

When I click on someone's photo, I'm hoping to also get a description of the scene location or a description of the artistic craft, or why it was made, etc. When I would see "Blogged here" as the description, I'd think, ok, the photo is for their blog not for flickr purposes. As more and more people blog, this becomes more frequent. I deal with it by saying to my computer screen as I click the back button, "If you can't be bothered to tell me something about your photo, then I can't be bothered to leave you a comment. I'm here on flickr and I'm not going to go chase down your photo on your blog."

photo from Lisa's Altered Art

For one, I may only just have found your photostream today and that photo is on page 2 or so in your photostream, taken 3 weeks ago and not likely to be on the front page of your blog when I get there.

Now, while having my blog lesson on inserting photos into my post, I learned that photos can come directly off your computer...they don't need to be uploaded to a go-between such as flickr is for other community forums that require a go-between to post photos within their forums. So, here we are arriving at my question...Why bother with flickr if the photo is just for your blog? Are you using flickr to get people to your blog? Speaking only for myself, I'm not going to your blog to find out about your photo. I don't want to know about it that badly. However, if you would give at least a brief description on flickr and then add something like "more info can be found on my blog", you'd have much more of my attention than you are getting now...on both your flickr photostream and your blog. Muse on it.

I do a lot of musing while on the back of this bike.

Washing the Lint Catcher?!!!

2011-08-27T07:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, wash your dryer's lint catcher...

Just do it! Take it to your kitchen sink, put some dish washing detergent on your sponge scrubby side and scrub that screen.

I am a believer of nothing!

But this one really does work! Go give it a try, see if your dryer runs more efficiently when it can breath easier!

Is your laundry done and all intact?

2011-08-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the week, one of the guests at Sew We Quilt guest #16, Lisa, an embroidery designer at Lazy May has an embroidery pattern titled One Red Sock. Ok, that got me musing about lost socks in the laundry. I know this is a tired old topic but this has always fascinated me because, ...are you ready?...I have NEVER lost a sock in the laundry! And I haven't ever had an opportunity to say that. Am I really the only woman in the world that has never lost a sock in the laundry? I thought I did a few times, but it turned out not to have gotten sorted and was just in a different load.

Well, a couple of weeks ago I got so excited...I thought I finally, after all these years, lost a sock in the laundry! Not so fast girlie...yep, didn't happen. Yep, it was in a different load. But here's what happened... The lint catcher was upstairs drying from being washed (you have to wash the gunk off those things now and then, you know. It clogs up the little screen holes and your dryer has to run longer to get the clothes dry...did you know that?), that was a few days ago and the lint catcher hadn't made it's way back to the basement yet. I forgot about it. I put a load of clothes in to dry. Soon my husband comes in from outside asking if I want my dryer sheet back and suggested I replace the lint catcher. Silly me. When I folded the clothes and one sock was missing, I was sure it got into the dryer vent and blown out into the yard just like the softener sheet was. I asked hub if he found any of his socks out in the yard...nothing like sending a man on a wild goose chase - eh?

Have you really lost your footwear in your laundry? I feel like I'm missing out on an important part of womanhood! Well, tell me...

Make this day a memorable one!

Annie

NOTE: Since blogging is so new to me, I have a musing from my pre-blogging-strictly-flickr-only days...come see me on Monday and we'll discuss it. Oh dear, miss nicey is already beginning to fade away...

I can't believe I'm a Blogger now!

2011-08-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

In the end, do we all attend a 12-step program for this? Well, until then, I am Annie. You may know me as freezeframe03. I've had a flickr photostream for three years. I kinda treated it like it was my "blog" and diary for my photography, at first, then my sewing/quilting, that I'm better at than photography. So far I've managed to stay under the 200 photo limit (always deleting the lesser photographs and sewing projects) to keep it a free account. I see no need to pay until there is a need...which is beginning to sneak up on me. There's a button or some sort of block thingy over there on the right that you can click on to visit my flickr photostream, if you'd like.

And now I've decided to join the life of blog owners. I've followed, I've visited, I've bookmarked and now I want to speak...oh goodness, help you all! I have opinions and I'm not afraid to speak them! So, what will you find here on my blog? All kinds of stuff. Like...

my sewing,

fabric postcards are my absolute favorite small project to make.

And wall quilts are a favorite. I only have 3 throw quilts under my belt because I only just figured out that straight line quilting is ok. How dense was I being - eh?!

You'll find fun photos of our 2-wheeled outings,

most will start with "At 60 mph..." because there is no stopping for pictures. I also love riding my pedal power bicycle but it isn't happening in my current situation.

You'll find what I've read lately.

I'll chat about this book soon. Very interesting.

And probably most frequently you'll find my musings and opinions on just about anything in this life that catches my attention and makes me think about it. Good or bad. There will be no wearing of rose colored glasses at this blog! And be prepared to participate, because when I want to know something, I'll ask anybody anything. I've embarrassed many a friend with my blunt curiosity. But if I don't ask, I'll never know. I figure if it's none of my business, I'll be told so.

I love it when I learn something new...even if it's something I should have known all along...like straight line quilting is ok...geezelouise I can't get over that one! Once in a while I've even changed my opinion or musing when someone puts forth a logical/reasonable rebuttal...nothing is ever one-sided. So, follow me if you like and feel free to comment and participate on my musings with your thoughts of whatever the subject might be. You may even trigger a new musing in me.

I'd love to know how you found me, and if you decide to follow me, welcome! If you have a blog, leave me the info so that I can come check out your blog and follow you if I don't already. Thanks for visiting.

Make every day memorable!

Annie