Personal Victory

Applique. I love it. If I can do it by hand. Machine applique? Involving the "f" word (fusible)? Forgetaboutit! Ain't gonna happen.

Well, them's fightin' words, and my friend Sharon took me up on it.

You see, she writes patterns, and she asked me to test sew a few of them. "Sure, no problem!" until I realized they involved fusing. Had I purchased the patterns, I would have done them by hand. But to test sew? I had to follow the directions, and her directions include fusing.

The test sew took place last summer. I finished the fusing, but did not do the machine satin stitch to hold the pieces in place. I just couldn't face it.

Fast forward to January quilting goals. "#3 Do the machine satin stitch on SIL Sharon's quilt."

SIL Sharon is not Sharon the pattern designer. Yes, sometimes it does get confusing.

Anyway, I was supposed to be doing computer work today, but errands got in the way. By the time 3pm rolled around, all I wanted to do was sew. I have a particular project in mind. However, I'd put January Goal #3 on top of my machine, to prevent me from starting something else. groan.

I sat down, loaded the thread, and started stitching.

Believe it or not - I don't! - I'm done!! Tomorrow, I can baste, quilt, and bind this quilt, if I have the time. The mental roadblock, the satin stitch stumbling block, has been removed. I can't believe it!! Yay!! Happy dance!!

Not only is the satin stitch finished, it doesn't look half bad. And it didn't kill me.

Perhaps I was being a tad melodramatic.

Then again, I have yet another piece waiting in the wings for satin stitching, and I am NOT planning to work on it any time soon...

Patterns For Sale

I have this friend, named Sharon L. Schlotzhauer. If you've ever seen her quilts or noticed her name, well, I'm sure you remember both. We met in the Denver airport. We'd been on the same plane coming home from Paducah, back in 2006 - has it been that long?

Anyway, one thing led to another, and we get together about once a year (although this year it was twice!)

Sharon's quilts are spectacular. If you've seen them, you probably remember them. But I digress.

Sharon has been teaching a few classes lately, and as a teaching tool, she's written some patterns. She asked me to help test them, and I test-sewed three of the four. She is now offering them for sale.

The first is "Pray For Our Troops," this is her sample.

The pattern looks like this:

And my test-sew looked like this:

The second pattern I tested was this one. Her quilt looked like this:

The pattern looks like this:

And my test piece looks like this:

The third pattern I tested was a butterfly. Hers looks like this:

The pattern looks like this:

My sample looks like this:

I didn't get around to testing this one, but here is Sharon's quilt:

And here is her pattern:

As you can tell - or maybe you can't - Sharon's patterns are exquisite. I am completely unfamiliar with her techniques (I prefer handwork, her patterns use Wonder Under and Steam a Seam 2), yet I was able to produce some lovely quilt tops. (I have to admit that I have not done the machine applique yet. But I will. I promise.)

Sharon is selling her patterns for $7.00. Shipping is $1.50 for the first pattern and $.50 for additional patterns ordered at the same time.

If you are interested, please leave a comment or email me, and I'll pass it along to Sharon.

Hope you like them!!! (Can you believe it's December?!!)

"We Have Seen His Star..."

Back in 2005, I was contacted by Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, regarding my quilt "We Have Seen His Star: Wise Men Still Seek Him." They had seen it in Jan Krentz's Diamond Quilts book, and were interested in publishing a pattern. I gave them the go-ahead, and it was presented as their 2005 Christmas Memory Pattern. All you needed to do was send them an SASE, and they sent you the pattern.

Every once in a while I get requests for the pattern. I usually tell people to contact QNM, and see if it is still available. They wrote the pattern, I didn't. I constructed the quilt differently than they outline, but the results should be very similar. I used Jan's Lone Star techniques to make the star.

This week I received TWO requests for the pattern. You have my blessing to make this quilt. In fact, I don't think there could be too many of this quilt in existence. If anyone else would like the pattern, either contact Quilter's Newsletter or email me.

Now that you've read this, you'd probably like to know what quilt I'm talking about.

Here is the full-view:

And here is a detail of the quilting:

If you click on the image, it should give you a larger view.

That's all I've got for today. I've worked on my April Step twice, both on Thursday and last night. The boy is appliqued in place, and I'm giving him hair. I might actually get the top together by Thursday, but the quilting is looking iffy. Goals are good. Don't allow the inability to reach every single one keep you from setting them. Every step we take is progress. Let's keep moving forward!

This n That

On my way home from Lindsay, I stopped at a little antique shop. I have a thing for chairs. (And glass. And crystal. And porcelain.)

Anyway, I saw this cute little rocking chair for $20 and had to bring it home with me. It has a flaw - some of the bird's eye maple veneer is peeling at the top - but I can overlook it. The shape of the chair called out to me, and the rest is history.

We had a surprise visitor over the weekend. He left yesterday, after stretching his 3-day weekend to four. (He doesn't have class on Tuesday.) Here's Adam...and Charlie...

I finished my freezer paper pattern, so I can officially declare my February step to be complete. I've only drawn 1/4 of the window. I plan to reuse each piece 4 times. I hope it holds up!!!

I thought you might find it interesting to get some perspective on just how big this pattern is. See how it dwarfs my machine? yeah. It's a big ole thing...



Finally, the 2009 Hoffman Challenge fabric arrived yesterday. I bought 2 yards. All I can say is bleah. It doesn't improve in person. I guess it has some metallic on it, but I can't decide if it's gold or silver or both. For some reason it looks maroon in the photo, but it's more a chocolate brown. To me, it's a groaner. Let's see if I can get any sort of inspiration in the next couple of months. So far it's not looking good...

And that's it for now. Hopefully I will have more to report in the morning...

Stepping Forward

I guess there's something to be said for having a germy household.

My hubby's been sick for days, and it's one of those, "oh, you sound SO germy" sicknesses. It's not enough to knock him into bed for the day, but it is enough to keep him in the house. Over the weekend, I was also fighting a scratchy throat, which he said was the first symptom.

I have been overdosing on fluids, trying to flood it from my system. So far, so good. I'm still standing.

I put tables up to baste a for-hire quilt late last week. I kept them up, so that I could begin (and hopefully finish?) my February step. I am pleased to announce that I am making progress. And we're just past midway through the month! Wahoo!!

See? I put my paper and rulers and pencils on the table! Ahh, progress feels so good!


Okay, so you're probably thinking I'm getting a bit carried away. You are right. Putting the tools on the table isn't all that exciting. But this is:

Don't you think it's exciting? It's my base pattern for the center of the quilt. Today's plan is to make a freezer paper pattern with a PERFECTLY sized wedge of 22.5 degrees. This drawing has wedges that measure 22.5, 22, and 23 degrees - which isn't so noticeable on a 6" circle but becomes critical when the circle has a 40" diameter.

Sigh. So much progress, so much more to go. But I'm stepping forward, and I hope that you are doing the same! Happy February!!

Pray For Our Troops

It was with a jolt that I saw today's date on a blog this morning. September 11...may we never forget.

Seven years ago, I was sitting at the computer, typing blithely away, when the phone rang. It was my husband telling me to turn on the news: the radio, the TV, it didn't matter. It was 6:30am, and the world had changed. The whole world was sent reeling, forever.

Several months ago, my friend Sharon asked me to "test sew" a pattern for her. I avoid wonder-under if possible, so I was her ideal guinea pig. I put the top together, and eventually quilted most of it.

God is good.

I had some free time on Tuesday, so I finished the quilting. Yesterday I bound and sleeved it. I even snapped a picture, not having a clue of today's date. My only planned post this morning was a fluff-piece about the county fair...which I will get to after this.

But for now, I'll lay this time aside to pass along a request: Please

Pray For Our Troops
pattern by Sharon L. Schlotzhauer
sewn by Suzanne Kistler
September 10, 2008

If you are interested in buying the pattern, leave a comment with contact information. I'll pass it along to Sharon, and hopefully get you in touch with one another. And I guess I'll leave it at that...