Quilt Guild

Well hello again,

I wanted to talk a little about the quilt guild that I joined yesterday. It was fantastic, I cant wait to go again next month. They were so welcoming and so informative. I love, love, loved it. I believe that if you are a serious quilter or just new to quilting you should join in on your local (or not so local for me) guild. They have a library were you can check books out, they have Bees were you find a group of people that you quilt with (and may become great friends), they have guest speakers for you to listen and take classes with. If you like charity work they have that so that you can give back They have retreats and outings, and soooo much more.

The guest speaker yesterday Karla Alexander she was wonderful. She talked about how she got into quilting and why. She was an author of eight, yes eight quilting books, has her own pattern design, and rulers that help with the patterns that she creates. Best of all she is down to earth.

I also noticed that there are more older women that quilt then younger. I had to be the youngest person at the guild meeting, but there are two chapters in our guild so maybe there are a few younger women in the other division. I'm not sure. I think that since it became something so big today that the younger generations should be there as well not just the older ones, I'm not sure if you just don't know about it or if your afraid to go, but you shouldn't be, its something to make your craft stronger and to help you to learn. Learning and knowledge is power.

Other than that I have just been working on getting scraps cut and sorted, had a lot of scraps left over. Also since I have the week off, I have been cleaning and organizing the rest of the things here and there when I can. Its nice to have a long break from work but man oh man is it ever boring. I already finished two seasons of two different shows on Netflix and am on to my third, and its only Tuesday. Ok, ok, I cheat a little and leave it on while I am doing other things so I'm not really watching just listening, but the house is so quiet its creepy.

I hope that you consider joining your Local (or not) Quilt Guild they do a lot and there is so much more that your guild may or may not offer. Don't be intimidated its something special.

Keep on Stitching

Work and the way things go.

It is hot here in Hampshire, Illinois, almost 87 at some point in the hot afternoon sun. I do not like it. I have Hypothyroidism like many people around the world and I do not like extream hot, oddly enough I am good with the cold, and man do we get cold here.

Hampshire is a little farm town outside of Chicago, it is flat and has, yep you guessed it farms as far as the eye can see. The only problem is because it is so flat there is nothing to block the wind from whipping up and smacking you in the face. This seems like it would be a good thing in the summer right . . . Oh how wrong you are. Because in the early spring and late fall the farmers are out in full force picking their crops that have been growing all summer this causes a lot of dust in the air. Now for those of you that do not suffer from any kind of allergy you can bite me; but for those of us that are allergic to everything it makes things a little more difficult. In the winter it becomes a freezing cold wind chill sometimes of -50 below. I'm going to take a huge pass on all of that this year and just stick to sewing.

I just ordered a new sewing machine and I can't wait to play with it. Although this is one of those weeks were I have a ton of stuff going on, and am leaving on Saturday morning for the Petal Tavern in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It should be a great trip. Its just a girls trip no guys allowed.

I'm not sure if I will be there until late on Sunday but I do know I will not be spending much in the ways of money because I am broke. Today is the Boyfriends birthday and I spent way to much on him to begin with and now the purchase of the new sewing machine has pushed me way over my budget, but it will be alright starting next week. Yay for paydays.

Other than that not much is going on today. Have to work an 11 hour shift and do it all over again tomorrow. Luckily I only have three kids today and only two tomorrow. So it makes my days very nice and quick, but soooooo long. As I am sure you can imagine.

I hope to start a new pattern for a quilt soon for my mother, she has requested an all grey quilt. She is slowly fixing up the kitchen and family room and turning it all grey, black and white, but I need to pick a perfect pattern for her first. Any suggestions, let me know. Thats all for now.

Remember, Keep Stitching

Me. . . Me who?

So I guess to start, my name is Michelle (or Elle for short). I am a newer quilter. I got into quilting with my mother-in-law. I had been around her as a young teen, Boyfriend and I have been dating this is our 11th year, so she was a very dear friend of mine as well. Growing up though she used to tell me "If you can read, you can sew." She sewed what seemed like very complicated things to me at that time. I thought there is no possible way I would ever be able to make something as nice as some of the things she had make. So I never took it up, would stop by and see what she was doing or making, and just hang out with her as she worked. Much like Quilt Cam with Bonnie Hunter. It wasn't until I moved in with her 9 years later to help save money, that I started to notice the patterns and the blocks individually; I started to put it together in my head. It became a large pattern to me and once I saw that I was inspired.

So, while I was off, from winter vacation I asked her to help me make one. I thought it would be a great way for us to be closer as friends and have something to do together while the men played (Boyfriends dad is a wood worker, we sew they carve). Well I didn't have very much time to make a quilt because classes were going to start in less then three weeks. I quickly picked the color purple, I knew it was something that she tended to shy away from because it was so close to blue (she really did not like the color blue, for whatever reason). Next was to pick out the fabrics with the purple in them.

I again, quickly picked out the fabrics that I liked and thought they would go good together. Surprisingly she did too. She then taught me everything there was to know about the tools of the trade, She had many different sewing machines that I could have my pick of using, she told me to choose carefully because the on I picked would become mine. I was so excited after looking a the few she had I picked the Singer Quatrum L500, Had lots of stitching and was big so I could easily see what I was doing. Had no idea the weight of it or how much it cost; later I learned it was one of the most expensive machines she had ever bought. Cutting waass frustrating to me. Some blocks were to big others were to short but I was cutting them all the wrong ways and couldn't line the ruler up right. I think I wasted more fabric during that project then I would really like to admit.

Next she attempted to teach me how to read a pattern, she felt it was to much to soon so instead she had me do a nine by nine block pattern something simple. I fell in love with this part. Piecing is wonderful makes me really feel like an artist. I am really making something beautiful for someone to love for a long long time.

After I finished piecing we started to get the batting and the backing going. She showed me how to get a piece of fabric that large to fit on the back of the quilt top. And how we could just cut with scissors instead of our rotary cutter. God send, thank you to the quilting gods that came up with that idea. lol

After that she became tired more and didnt have the energy for much, a few weeks later we found her face down in the snow. She had had a massive heart attack and died January 21, the day my new classes were about to start. I had lost my best friend, my mother figure in my life and my mentor all in one heart breaking day. I took six months off to help with everything and keep dinner on the table and the house somewhat clean.I felt like I had also lost my home,  His dad was an alcoholic and quickly turned all his rage on to me, I knew it would only be a matter of time before I had to move home.my family is not the nicest all the time so I tend to stay away from them when I can. I was devastated.

 I decided not to go back to the university I was at but instead take a class here and there again at the community college. I already have two Associates Degrees (one in Liberal Arts, and the other in Science) and was working on my Bachelors in education but have taken a different path for the time being. Because I have both I can do just about anything. I have the prerequisites done for just about everything.

Today, I am a nanny, I have an interesting job. I not only take care of the day to day chores of the house hold but also to a preschool that is run out of the basement of the home, There are cleaning people that come every other Friday and that seems to help but I am solely responsible for the preschool. I like it because I get to teach and hang out with the kids all day and I also get to do my work. It is very interesting and never boring. Something is always going on.

In the rare events that I am not overly tired or exhausted form working, because little kids have lots and lots of energy and will wear you down, I quilt. I have not done much in the last few months because I have been getting ready for graduation and parent show and all kinds of thing at work. busy busy busy and been working 10-11 hour days. To tired to even hold my arm up to take a drink. No thank you.

I will try to remember to upload what I am up to and working on. Like I just finished the pinwheels now comes the hard part of actually quilting. I am really not very good at this part at all. I guess its the part where practice makes perfect.

I hoped you liked getting to know a little about me and how I got into quilting. I know it was a lot and I tried to keep it short but informative. Stick around and keep up with what I am doing next. I also just found two awesome quilt guild and am in the process of joining them so you may see some cool things from meetings. Yay!

Keep Stitching !

About me

This is the page were I tell all the fun little details about my life, If I feel up for sharing. =P
I also like to thank people and let them ask anything they might like to know about me. I am happy to share and make some new friends.

Current projects

Although I like to work on things here and there that, I'm more than happy to share with you; I also work on a few things that are just for my friends and family to enjoy. This is the place for me to share. If you really want to see how to do them there is a good chance that I will end up making another with the same pattern. Be patient and ask I might make one just for you guy.

Finishing The Pinwheels

Finishing the Pinwheels

Its important to lay out your pattern and then pin it together when you are happy with it. If you look carefully you might be able to see the second set inside the boxs were wrong so I had done enough to  make a entire row out of it all the way around. I like it though, it seems gives it a little more personality.

    I found this really cool fabric that has every color under the rainbow on it and thought it would be really awesome to finish this off. Well low-and-behold I was right, its a perfect fit. Sadly this is one my mother-in-law would have loved. She did a batik with baby bricks and it is at the top of my bed. We talked a lot about quilting and she is missed every time I sit at her old machine, I feel like it has become time I spend with her.

     You get a little better image of the rows I did f-ups on. Please be kind I am still very new at this and am kinda slow going. Any feed back would be nice though, Thanks.

Making the Perfect Pinwheel

     So I was trying to make a great pinwheel and having a few problems with them, that's when I came up with a great idea, you start with two sets of charm packs, I choose white and a really pretty mixed color batiks. Then you take one of the squares what ever size you choose and put them right sides together. like so.

      Then you sew all the way around the two squares. 

      After you sew them together you then cut them right through the diagonals that the square naturally makes.

       After that you should have four small square each half square triangles. make sure to press the seams on these so that you don't run into an accidents and have to redo the pinwheels like I did a few times.      Then you take the squares and make a pinwheel pattern  make sure that you keep track of this or again you will end up with screwy pinwheels. Then you take the squares and make a pinwheel pattern  make sure that you keep track of this or again you will end up with screwy pinwheels.

   

            Sew only two of the squares together at a time so that you can go back and press them again when your done. Again make sure to press them flat when finished. (this will be important in a few steps)

            Once you have sewn and pressed you should have a bunch of long rectangles. This is what you want. Now carefully line up the pinwheel halves again and sew them together. Make sure that you go over the seams just right or you will end up with some slightly off pinwheels. that is never good.

            Remember to press open when done.

            And then when you have done it right you should see a little pinwheel in the center of the back of the pinwheel letting you know you have done it right. YAY!! Now do this again another 48 times or how ever many squares you have and make a beautiful quilt. Here is how far I have gotten. 

Welcome

Thanks so much for checking out my brand new blogger web page. I hope to add new things on there as I go. Also please make sure to like my Facebook page and to check out my shop if there is something that you are interested in buying. Have fun and stay tuned for more to come.
Elle