2012 Christmas Quilt Show

This is my entry to the 2012 Christmas Quilt Show.  It’s a 22 1/2 inch square wall hanging or table topper that was pretty fun to make.  The center block is a machine embroidered applique block that’s embroidered as an easy 4-part split design.  (This is one of the 4 swag wreath block options from this digital file.)  When I first began learning MEA, I was afraid of multi-hooped designs because I figured that I could never get my block aligned correctly from 1 hooping to another, so my designs would always be off.  With my system, you never have to hoop the fabric block because the fabric is always floated on top of the hooped stabilizer.  Because there are cross hairs stitched onto both the fabric and the stabilizer, matching things up from one hooping to the next really couldn’t be easier.  Here’s a shot of  the center block as it’s partially stitched and I’ve just aligned my cross hairs for the next stitch out:

(Do you see those foam pin anchors?  They have pins stuck through them that are piercing the cross hairs on the fabric and the cross hairs on the stabilizer below; this is how you can be assured that everything lines up perfectly.  Those pin anchors hold everything in alignment and free up my hands, so I can easily go in and place a couple of straight pins to hold the stabilizer and fabric together during embroidery.  I remove the foam pin anchors and the pins inside them once I’ve got my other pins in place, and then I return my hoop to the machine.  See what I mean?  Easy as pie!)

Once that center block has been stitched, the corner triangles are embroidered as a 2-part split design (each square holds 2 pairs of mirror image feathers) and then each square is sliced on the diagonal to yield 2 of the corner setting triangles.  Once done,  I attached corner setting triangles on 2 sides opposite one another:

and then once those seams are sewn and pressed, you attach corner setting triangles to the remaining 2 sides.  I designed these triangles to be over-sized so they could be trimmed to a desired size once they were attached to the center block.  I like a wider binding around my quilts, so I trim to a 1/2 inch edge.  A lot of my friends like to trim it down to a 1/4 inch edging. Here’s a shot of it getting a trim:

Once I got it into a quilt sandwich, I started the fun of free motion quilting it:

…and now I’m quilting a larger quilt version of this design:

And here’s something fun for you: be sure to check out SewCalGal’s blog starting tomorrow, 12/1/12.  I’m the guest teacher for the December posting in the 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge.  My post is all about machine quilting border designs and I’m hoping you’ll like it!  If you haven’t been following the 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge, get into it now!  I’m not kidding…SewCalGal has put together a fabulous array of tutorials throughout 2012 and if you’re trying to learn to FMQ, this is a must-see.  To access all of the FMQ Challenge tutorials, go here.

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Black Friday Through Cyber Monday Sale!

Patsy Thompson Designs, LTD Thru    Happy Holidays from Patsy, Ernie and Nikki! 1590 Albon Rd. #32 Holland, OH 43528 Phone – (419) 491-1830 Email Questions to: info@patsythompsondesigns.com Now through Monday November 26, 2012 at Midnight (Eastern Time) we are having the following specials: 20% off all of PTD Books, DVDs, Fabric Cutting Dies, Patterns , and Digitized Designs (excluding Bundles). Just enter the discount code: Thanksgiving 2012 $5 Gift Certificate for any Retail purchase of $50-$99 (excluding tax & shipping) $10 Gift Certificate for any Retail purchase of $100 or more (excluding tax & shipping) *Please note: you will receive your gift certificate via email on Tuesday November 27, 2012. Only one gift certificate per customer during this sale. Gift certificates can be used on your next purchase and will be valid for 30 days. And we’ve made some changes to our web site to help your loved ones find all the fun quilty stuff you’d love to receive as a gift!  We now have a “wish list” function, so if there are products you’d love to receive, click just below the product on the “add to wishlist” button, and soon you’ll have a list of all the wonderful notions/fabrics, etc that you’re wishing for!  Just ask your loved ones to log into the store using your name, and they’ll have your list at their fingertips!  If there’s something you’d like and you’re not seeing it in our store, just let us know and we’ll try to get it for you.  We want to be your one-stop shopping for the holidays! The holidays are officially here and that means it is travel time! It is not too late to order some wonderful Tutto Luggage (20% off MSRP) so you don’t have to leave your project behind! This is a quick way to earn a Gift Certificate! Make sure and check out all of our great new products below! 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Thanksgiving

In the rush before kitchen duty, I was scrambling in my sewing room to put something together…

I wasn’t (and still am not) exactly sure what I’m making (or what it will be used for; I have a few very different ideas in my head).  I put together some other similar pieces, again, not feeling certain about how I might arrange these together:

It was fun to just do some freeform cutting/piecing with no real goal other than handling fabric and seeing some great colors.  I have a couple ideas of what I’d like to make but I’m a long way from there now.  I also got a new flower block done:

…and then I spent the afternoon in the kitchen with Ernie.  We had a wonderful meal with our friend, Peggy, and are now feeling very full watching old episodes of Homeland.  I have much to be thankful for and hope you had as nice a Thanksgiving as I did!

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Thrill of the Finish

This was a table runner/door runner I made last winter that was stolen when my car was broken into last March.  I really liked it and intended to make a replacement.  I embroidered the 3 large blocks months ago and have never gotten around to the easy part of piecing them together and quilting it.  I finally did this weekend!!

These runners are a real joy to quilt; they’re only 14 inches wide so they’re very easy to manipulate on the machine bed and because they’re so small relative to a “real quilt,” you can quilt them fairly quickly.  I’m fond of the thread work on this:

The first thing I did was to outline each applique shape with Monopoly by Superior Threads, and all the other thread work (both embroidery and quilting) was done with Floriani polyester embroidery thread:

I meet quilters all the time who are afraid to use any thread for quilting that isn’t labeled “quilting thread” and you are really missing out on the fun if you don’t play with all the luscious threads that are out there!  If you haven’t tried Floriani yet, here’s a link to my supplier, the I Have a Notion online store.

I stitched the small “connector” pieces with a design I call “jumping rope:”

…and you can probably see that better on the backside of the quilt:

I stitched the larger areas at each end with the “igloos” design:

…and that is also seen more clearly from the back side:

I still have the hand sewing portion of the binding but I love that kind of handwork, so this runner is completely done in my book.  To reward myself, I went out and broke the bank at a quilt shop:

I know, I don’t need any more fabric!!

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A Little More White on White and Divorcing a Quilt

I had a little time to play around some more stitching on white cotton sateen fabric with a shiny polyester white thread and I have to say that there is something so yummy about the texture this pairing creates!  I think it might be impossible to stitch out a design that didn’t look good with this thread/fabric combo, although some designs reveal much more beautiful textures than others.  I’ll start with “ok” designs and end up with the one I like best.  First up is a variation on “seashells:”

It looks very similar to the original Seashell design, but there’s a slight difference.  Instead of repeatedly echoing the first teardrop, I only echoed partially on one side.  This creates kind of a “hook-like” line instead of a pure echo.  This create more movement in the design and also leaves some very small areas with nothing in them, and I think I like having those “blank” zones.  Next up is another variation on swirls:

The difference here is that this really is just freehand swirls done in a continuous line; I did not allow myself to “fill in” any of the spaces that formed between them.  I’m on the fence on this one and thinking that I might end up going back and filling the blank zones with pebbling or something else.  The last one is my favorite.  In my mind, it’s  kind of a version of McTavishing, except I forbade my self to put any swirls or swirl-like structures into it, and instead periodically threw in some units of “plumify it” types of plumes.  I really like the texture created by this one:

I think I’ll definitely be using this one again!  And on a more somber note, have you ever become so frustrated and disenchanted with a quilt that you just wanted to divorce it?  OMG, I’ve wanted to set this one  on fire for a number of days now, but I’ve invested so much time into it that I’m going to finish it.  I’m shipping it off to a longarmer tomorrow to have it basted so I can quilt it, but I’m so glad it will be out of my sight/hands for a few days.

If nothing else, it will keep me from doing something drastic to it!

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