Quilting Retreat

September 27, 2011March 19, 20132 Comments

This weekend I attended my guild’s annual quilting retreat. It was an out-of town adventure that was just what I needed to get my creative juices flowing again and recharge my energies for the upcoming holiday sewing and gift-giving season.

The theme was “Girlfriends” and it was all about hanging out with your sewing buds and appreciating their friendship.

Here’s a picture of me and my BQF (best-quilting-friend) Stacy. We’ve been going to the retreat together for years and it’s the most time we get to spend together all year!

What friendship retreat would be complete without a Tea Party to top it off? During our Saturday lunch, the ladies all got dressed up in their sunday best complete with hats and flowers to go with the theme. Each table was decorated with a hand made tea-cozy quilt. These quilts were raffled off to guild members (along with other prizes) during the weekend. We love to win stuff!!

Tea Party

Stacy and I taught a class on machine applique while we were there. We used a pattern from the book Patches and Posies (available for sale on my website).

Teri Christopherson, the author, let us borrow her quilt as a sample for our class. It’s a great pattern for either hand or machine applique, using the button-hole stitch or traditional methods. I showed the class how to machine applique with fusible web and a decorative machine stitch.

Stacy's Posy Quilt

Stacy walked around the class helping and encouraging the students as we went along. We felt like it was a successful class when one of the students who had previously decided to hand stitch hers decided to put her machine to use after trying my method.

It was a fabulous weekend and I can’t wait to do it again next year!

If at first you don’t succeed, “tri” again!

September 20, 2011March 19, 20133 Comments

Wetsuits are NOT flattering!

This past weekend I raced in a triathlon along with my husband, oldest son and a couple of girlfriends.

This is a 3 part race that involves swimming, biking and running: the swim is 1/2 mile, the bike is 12 miles, and the run is a 5k or 3.1 miles. And that’s called the “sprint” distance!

I love to exercise and feel that it is an integral part of my sewing career. After all, if I don’t keep myself healthy, how will I possibly live long enough to make all the quilts I’m dying to create??

The family that bikes together stays together!

As with quilting, I have different fitness goals depending on the situation. My goal this weekend was to cheer on my husband and son while encouraging my two friends to complete their first triathlon.

This was my 5th triathlon so it’s pretty old-hat to me by now. I set modest goals and didn’t finish with a super fast time, but I got the job done and was pleased with the results.

The finish line is in sight!

Now that the race is out of the way, I can look forward to a different sort of weekend coming up: my guild’s annual quilting retreat.

I’m just glad it is happening the week after my race, not before, so I can eat a little more and rest a lot less! I’ll post again next week with pictures of all the fun I’m sure to have!!

Moda Charm Packs Galore

September 9, 2011March 19, 20131 Comment

I hope you aren’t getting tired of reading about charm packs because I am certainly not tired of writing about them and sewing with them – they are just “sew” addicting!

Here’s a recent pile of charm packs and jelly rolls that arrived from Moda, waiting to be labeled and bagged for shipping.

Here’s my current charm pack quilt project that I’m working on. It uses two packs of charms cut in half. I chose Lily Ashbury’s Summer House but think this will look great in any charm pack color combo.

As I wrote in the last post, my new thing is designing quilts in EQ7. As soon as this one is finished, I plan on kitting it and making a pattern from it. It’s super easy yet very striking, especially in colorful modern fabrics!

Here are the next few Moda charm packs that I would like to do something with:

Nature's Gift

Terrain

Lil' Rascals

Designing Quilts is Right on Target

September 6, 2011March 19, 2013Leave a comment

I have rediscovered the joy of quilt designing with the help of EQ7 (Electric Quilt Design Software – Version 7). I used to teach quilting classes years ago and always designed my own patterns to teach. However, these were pretty “home-made” looking and not really suitable for publication. Now with this handy technology, I’m on my way to producing my own original Christa Quilts Designs!

Today was efficient and fun because I got to play around with the software while my boys were attending Archery practice. With my laptop and a borrowed table from the target-shooting warehouse, I could design away while they shot arrows to their heart’s delight! (They both shot 200 points in 10 rounds – enough to advance to the next level.)

I’m just glad that I was sitting behind them, quite a distance away!

Amy Butler Roman Shade

September 3, 2011August 31, 2011Leave a comment

I have such talented friends! And I love it when they let me share pictures of what they’ve made using my fabrics. My friend Alexis recently made a Roman shade from some Amy Butler fabric: Temple Tulips in the Cinnamon color from the Soul Blossoms collection.

Here’s a picture of her finished shade and a link to her blog Persia Lou to read all about it!

Mother-Daughter Sewing Team

August 31, 2011March 19, 20134 Comments

The last time I blogged about a mother and daughter sew-in, it was about my daughter.

Last week my mom came for a visit and this time I was the daughter! She needed to whip up a couple of quilted ditty bags to store some fishing poles for an upcoming trip.

(Notice our matching necklaces and bracelets – totally unplanned by the way – like mother/like daughter!!)

I was all too eager to help! After all, my mom taught me to sew, but I taught her to quilt.

I stipple quilted for her while she & my daughter did some on-line toy shopping.

Then it was my mom’s turn to take the quilted piece of novelty material..

Trim it up, sew the edges together..

And turn it into a couple of useful utility bags. Way to go, mom!

It just dawned on me that now we have 3 generations of sewists in our family!

Summer Wrap-Up

August 29, 2011March 19, 2013Leave a comment

As summer comes to a close and the kids begin their fall studies, I wanted to post a few pictures of our end-of-summer family fun, to prove that it’s not all just about sewing and fabric around here!

About a week ago we went camping with some friends from church. Here are “the guys” relaxing on Saturday before a busy Sunday the next day!

Here are “the wives”, enjoying not having to chase after our children in “the wilderness”.

We ate roasted hot dogs & s’mores for dinner with donuts and pop-tarts for breakfast. Not the healthiest food, but the cleanup was quick and easy!

The kids had a blast exploring, getting dirty and (carefully) tending the fire pit. Between the 3 families, we have a total of 12 children!

A few days after our camping trip, our family traveled to Cedar City Utah, to see the Shakespeare festival held there every year. Our oldest son had gone up earlier with his Shakespeare group and was able to experience 3 plays: Richard III, Romeo & Juliet and A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream. We joined the group on the second night for Romeo & Juliet.

The plays were held in an outdoor theater without microphones. It was a fantastic experience and even our younger kids were able to sit through the entire play and enjoy it!

Treat Your Feet!

August 26, 2011March 19, 20132 Comments

For my birthday last week, Jason bought me a pair of my favorite running shoes!

I ran a marathon back in June and went through 2 pairs of shoes during my training. Now I’m onto a lighter workout schedule (and a heavier eating schedule) so my shoes should last longer this time around.

I’m on my feet a lot whether I’m running, cutting fabric for a customer, or working on a quilt so I like to take good care of them.

One of the ways I like to dress up my feet is by wearing Laurel Burch Socks. They are very playful and fun and are a lot more interesting to wear than boring white socks! Plus they are super comfy!

If I Were a Rich (wo)Man…

August 24, 2011March 19, 20132 Comments

If I were a rich woman… I’d biddy-biddy-bum.. sew ALL-DAY-LONG!! Do you get the reference?? My family and I went and saw a live production of Fiddler on the Roof last week and it was simply amazing. If you haven’t seen it, be sure to rent the movie!

Each summer we see an outdoor production under the stars. We bring blankets and a picnic dinner and enjoy a night of live theatre. As the kids have gotten older, they’ve come to appreciate a little bit of culture, at least what we can find around here, anyway!

Where is my oldest son, you say? Why he’s taking the pictures of course! This year was especially fun for me to watch the crowds and take note of all the beautiful quilts people brought to sit on. If only I could have worked up the nerve to take a few more pictures…

Machine Binding Demo

August 22, 2011March 19, 20139 Comments

Here’s the step-by-step process I use when binding my quilts by machine. The method is similar for traditional hand finished hidden-stitched bindings, too. Be advised, this post has lots of pictures. Many are shrunk to fit. Click on the individual pictures for closeup details.

First, start by squaring up your quilt with a 90 degree corner. Use long rulers to trim the sides. Trim the batting and backing flush with the top.

Yes, I dress up when I sew. Don’t you?? 🙂

Next, I select my binding pieces. Usually it’s a color to match the top. For this quilt, I used leftover pieces for a scrappy binding. Measure around the perimeter to find the total length needed. I cut enough 2 1/4″ strips to go around, adding about 10-12 inches to the total perimeter for seam allowances and mitering at the corners. Join the strips together with a miter to form a continuous strip. Trim the excess corners.

Measure Perimeter

Miter Corners

Trim Excess

Press all of the seams open, then fold the whole strip wrong sides together and press along the length with an iron. It should now measure about 1 1/8 inches wide with right sides showing. Trim the start of your binding on a 45 degree angle. For your convenience and to prevent tangles, you can wrap a ready-to-sew binding around an empty spool of thread.

Press Open

Right Sides Out

Binding Storage

Top Stitch

Sew off Corner

Angle Up

Start sewing with the binding on top of the quilt, face up. Stitch with a slightly wider than 1/4″ seam.

Leave at least a 5 inch “tail” and start on a side, away from the corners.

When you get to the corner, stop 1/4″ away from the edge, pivot and sew off at the corner. Then, take the binding out of the machine, and flip it up so that it is flush with the edge. Next, flip it back down and create a tuck underneath by folding the excess piece.

Folding Down

Excess Tuck

Fold Back

The excess piece will form the miter on the front.

You can now start sewing the rest of the binding onto the front, stopping and repeating the same process at each corner. When you get back to the beginning, stop with a gap between the beginning and ending pieces. Trim off some of the excess (green in the photo) but not too much. Then mark the angle where the beginning piece meets the end.

Begin Again

Leave a Gap

Mark the Fit

Using a small ruler, measure 1/2″ away from this marked line. The line should be on a 45 degree angle and you are cutting 1/2″ away from this. This will enable the ending and beginning pieces to fit nicely together. Sew them together, offsetting the little dog eared triangles to get an even seam. This will connect your continuous binding, start to end.

1/2" From Mark

Close The Gap

Connect the Ends

Close the Fold

Sew the Close

Close the fold and trim the “ears”.

Then sew the gap closed.

Now you are ready to flip the binding to the back and stitch it down by machine (or hand if desired). I stitch from the backside of the quilt, so the bobbin thread will be in a color to match the topside of the quilt. My favorite machine stitch is the serpentine stitch. It is both functional and decorative and it hides mistakes. Plus if you meander a little off the edge it still works!