March- Island Batik Ambassador project

The Challenge for March for the Island Batik Ambassadors was to do a project with paper piecing or english paper piecing.  I decided I was going to do paper piecing.  I had only done a simple heart, so I decided it would be a fun challenge.

The idea that I came up with was to draw some kite shapes and then put in some different shapes within those kite shapes.  I did this in EQ6.  EQ stands for Electric Quilt and is a program that a lot of quilt pattern designers use.

I chose kites, as I like the song from Mary Poppins, "Let's Go Fly A Kite".  Also. it is beginning to warm slightly and I was tired of the winter weather we were having here in Utah.

I started doing English Paper Piecing, but that was taking some time, so I decided to do paper piecing.  I used aurifil thread color 2024 (50 wt)  for the piecing.  And for quilting I used  Aurifil thread 1147 (40 wt) to quilt blades of grass in the green area and Fantastico #5117 (40 wt) by Superior Threads for the clouds in the sky.

The quilting of the grass. 

 After I got it to this point,  I texted a picture to one of my daughters. Her 4 year old said it looked like grass, the 6 year old saw carrots.

The clouds. These are fun to quilt. 

This was a fun project to do.  I am a bit slow in posting as there was just a bunch of crazy life going on.  I thank Elizabeth and Katie at Island Batik for being so understanding.

All finished.

The backing and binding is white from the basics collection at Island Batik. The kites are made from the Drizzle collection,  and the blue is from the basics collection. The green was from a little roll they had sent.  These are awesome fabrics to work with. If you haven't tried them, please do so.  I do need to add a Kite string to both kites.

cutting at a 45 degree angle

Every now and again, you may have a pattern that wants you to cut your fabric at a 45 degree angle, especially if the fabric is directional and the pattern has you put the block on point.

Today I want to share with you some important tips that I have learned.

1. Use starch on your fabric. I use either best press or niagra. Niagra is less expensive and you can get at most grocery stores in the laundry section. Best press is more expensive and I only buy it if it is on sale or I have a coupon. The reason you use starch, is because you are cutting on the bias.

2. Handle your blocks carefully when they are cut. Because they are on the bias, they will stretch.

Cutting your fabric on the 45 degree angle.

Your cutting mat will usually have 3 different angle lines. A 30, 45, and 60. Today we are dealing with the 45. The pattern tells me to cut a strip of fabric 4 3/4" on the 45 degree_ angle. To do this, I make sure my edge is even and straight, and lay it on the 45 degree line.

Next you will take your ruler that you cut with, and put the 4 3/4" mark against the edge of the fabric on the 45 degree mark, and cut along the left edge of your ruler.  Cut as many strips as the pattern tells you to.

Now, you have your strips.  Lay them straight on your cutting mat, and cut the squares (4 3/4).

 It is that simple and easy.  Now you have your squares ready.

It took me some time when I first started quilting to do this.  However, I figure if you don't learn new things you don't grow.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial.  Please let me know if there are other things you would like to learn about.

2017 New Quilters Blog

This year, I am again participating in the New Quilters Blog.  There are 3 groups, and they are all divided into hives.  The name of my hive is "Let's bee Quilt'n".  I am excited to participate in this.  I learned a lot last year, and hope to learn even more this year.

So, let me tell you a bit about me. I grew up watching my mom quilt. One of the things we would do is sit under the frame when she was quilting and pull the needle through and them push it back up.  In high school, one of my favorite classes was home economics. I would even attend summer home economics. I was also very active in 4h and had some wonderful teachers.

This year I am serving as an ambassador for Island Batik.  I love working with their wonderful fabrics. I am also a quilter for Stash Builder Box, which donates quilts to different organizations for kids. I also test patterns for different quilt designers.

 I sew all types of things. So, when I was trying to figure out a name for my blog, I wanted to include more than just quilts.  There were so many Kathy's out there thay I decided to spell quilts with a "kw".  I really enjoy sewing and sharing that joy with others.  I have been teaching my 6 year old granddaughter to sew.  My day time job is sewing trade show displays and different things for different events.

I love everything I do. Sewing and quilting is a deep passion of mine, and one of my goals is to inspire others to want to learn these skills. Why? Because I think they are important to have. You never know when they will come in handy.

Sewing/quilting tip:

A few weeks ago I was down in bed, having to keep my leg elevated, heated and iced, due to a knee problem. Thank goodness I had some projects I could take up to the bedroom and do hand piecing. I had taken and put my projects into ziploc bags, with a paper telling me what they were. It worked great for that and also works great for road trips.

This is just one example of how I kit my projects for working on away from home. This is in a plastic container.  Usually though I use ziploc bags and will put smaller pieces in different bags. 

Some of what I have made:

This is a quilt that I tested for Designs by RR. I gave this to one of my grandsons for his 1st birthday.

This is a fun quilt that I made

I made this quilt for my bosses little girl.

I know this is not quilt related, but this is a Cinderella dress that I made for my daughter.

A BYU quilt that I am working on for my sweetheart.

My goal is to do regular posts on my blog, and to share with you things that you would like to see or things you would like to learn.  I want to do tutorials on Tuesdays, at least twice a month.  So, with that in mind, what would you as readers, like to see a tutorial on?  Please leave a comment below.

Where did I get my inspiration?
I follow a lot of quilters and designers on instagram, Facebook and pinterest. People like Judi Madsen @greenfairyquilts, the sweet wonderful ladies @sewkindofwonderful, Marion @myquiltdiet, Angela @quiltingismytherapy, Christa @christaquilts, and Natalia @pieceandquilt.
There are so many more, but these are a few.

I love to read the comments from my readers, and I try really hard to reply to all of your comments.

Thanks to our hostesses for this blog, Leanne at www.shecanquilt.ca, Yvonne at www.quiltingjetgirl.com  and Beth at www.cookingupquilts.com.  They have a great giveaway going on, so be sure to visit them and enter.

I have had fun meeting the other people in all the hives that are also blogging today, so please visit my friends at the following blogs

April at jandabendquilts.com

Nancy at www.graceandpeacequilting.com

Gail at https://quiltinggail.wordpress.com

I hope you have enjoyed visiting my blog. Please take the time to look through the different pages, and come back often to visit me. You can also visit me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kathyskwiltsandmore
 or on instagram @kathyskwiltsandmore.

winners of the heart mini quilts

Congrats to Tu-na quilts and Janice Holton. Your names were selected. Will you please send an email to kbruck2001@yahoo.com and let me know your address? I will get these sent soon.

Congrats.

2nd quarter finish along 2017

So, I wasn't very successful with my 1st quarter finish along, so we are going to try for the 2nd quarter.

These are the same projects I have been working on for the last couple of quarters. So, hopefully,  this quarter things go better.

There is 1 more that I am adding. This is a panel I am turning into a quilt. Probably will be for 1 of my grandsons.  It is a panel of retrievers and I can't get to my sewing room right now. It is on the frames, and I am laid up with a bad knee.

Island Batik Ambassador -April Challenge preview

  This month for the April Challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors, our challenge is Applique.

I love applique.  Whether I do it by machine or by hand it is one of my favorite things.  I do prefer to do it mostly by hand, as it is easy to carry along with me.  I work on it where ever I go.  I carry it to work and take a few minutes to work on it at lunch time, unless I decide to go for a walk.

The project I am doing this month is Hawaiian quilting.  I love this type of quilting.  I first saw it at a local quilt shop when I went on a shop hop.  There was a gorgeous one hanging up that was a sampler of different squares.  I bought a book and taught myself the techniques of Hawaiian quilting. My project this month is at least one sampler block and I have chosen to do the "Pua Aloalo" which is the hibiscus and is the Hawaii State Flower.

These 2 photos show the beginning of my project.  I am using Aurifil 2024 for the basting and for the needle turn applique I am using Aurifil 2510.

 The fabric is folded the same way that you would fold paper for snowflakes or the little people holding hands.  I could never make those things work.  I have to find a scrap to practice on so I don't screw up my good fabric.

I am very lucky to have a neighbor who is Hawaiian.  The last time they went to Hawaii, was to visit her sick dad, who also ended up passing away.  Her husband took these pictures of this quilt that hangs in the lobby of the hospital over there.  It is definitely an inspiration picture for me.  One of these days, I will make one that is like this.

Stay tuned, and later in the month I will share with you my Hawaiian quilt.  What inspires you to quilt or whatever your hobby is?

Happy Very late Galentines and Valentines day

Yes.  I know those days happen in February.  Galentines is really a fictional day, but a day when we can let our women friends know we care, especially if they don't have a hubby or boyfriend to go out and celebrate with.  As an Island Batik ambassador, we were given a challenge to make some mug rugs or something to give to those friends.  I had a very crazy February and even March with some family things that happened.  So, I got the mug rugs done, towards the end of the month, and got them delivered to some friends who were just down a little bit.  Then I realized I forgot to post pictures and write a blog.

SO, I decided that since I had pictures of the ones I had shared, I needed to get them posted.  These were fun to do.  I used the Valentines day fabrics from Island Batik and thread from Aurifil.  The Aurifil thread was wonderful to work with.  I used two different colors.  I used 2311 which is a cream color for the piecing, and the quilting on this one:

The heart pattern I used came from http://cluckclucksew.com/2015/01/making-heart-blocks-in-multiple-sizes.html.  It was fun to do.  I used warm n natural cotton batting, but under the heart I put a piece of polyester batting to give the heart some umph.


This one was done the same way, and I used Aurifil 4020 thread for the quilting.

Then because we had such a challenging month in our family, I made this one for my hubby:

I wrote on this one:  2 hearts as 1 Sept. 9, 1983.  Our first date was February 12, 1983.  I wanted him to know that I was thinking about him.  I used the same batting on this that I used on the others.


This past week I had some friends that were going through some challenging times.  I had some of the Valentines fabrics left over, and I thought hearts and love aren't just for Valentines, so I whipped up a few more.  Well, I have 2 left over.  So, I want to do something fun.  If you know someone who is having a hard time, doesn't matter the reason, leave a comment and next Monday, April 10th, I will draw 2 winners and these little wall hangings can go to them.  Tell me which one you would prefer if you are the winner.  We will close the comments at 11:59 p.m. on April 10, 2017.   The winners will be chosen randomly through a number generator.  The giveaway is open only to U.S. Residents due to mailing costs, please.

Good luck and I really enjoy reading your comments.