Really Random

 Pete is home from Nicaragua! His team had a fantastic time- everything we had hoped and more. He really didn't want to bother with a camera, but I convinced him at the last minute to pick up a disposable one. This is the best of his 24 shots. Spectacular!

 A man working at the hostel in Leon made this knotted necklace for me and wire rings for Julia. Pete really enjoyed talking to him as he worked.

 On Friday, I had the pleasure of taking a class with Cindy Needham. If you are not familiar with her work, spend some time browsing her website. Her work is absolutely stunning! Stay tuned for more on my project using my grandmother's linens.

I couldn't resist the colors of this grocery store bouquet. Check out the fluffy green thing in the front. It is a Green Trick Dianthus. Who knew?

This zig zag row will be shipped out to the February Modern Stash queen bee.

 I'm going to try to play along with Karen's BOM on Sew Many Ways. I don't have a great track record with BOM's, so we'll see how far I get.

I figure if I make them in the same fabrics that I started using for Jackie's BOM last year, I can combine them at the end. Of course, they are different sizes, so that will just add to the challenge of putting them together.

 It's time to start thinking ahead to our guild retreat next weekend. I can't wait!

Welcome, Olivia!

 My fourth grand-niece was born last week. Isn't Olivia so sweet?

Olivia's baby quilt is now ready to go. I used a really sweet jelly roll (Birdie by Me and My Sister Designs for Moda), Kona white and the Whirlygig pattern by Amelie Scott Designs. The quilt measured 48" x 60" before washing, about 45" x 57" after.

I've seen a quilting pattern similar to this a bunch of times online, so I drew it out on paper before I started. I wanted a loose design, so I started out really big. As you can see, I tightened up significantly as I made my way around the quilt.

See the tiny flowers in the center and giant flowers at the edge?

I used one extra block and some extra strips to make the back wide enough.

 More jelly roll strips became the binding.  I bordered the label with some leftover binding.

I had saved all the lighter strips for the binding, and I thought they needed some help. I think the bright pink ric rac did the trick.

This week was big sister Abby's 2nd birthday. She loves playing in her toy kitchen, so I made her a cute new apron.

Giant dots on the front, tiny dots on the back. I followed this tutorial by Yards and Yards.

I'll be linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts' Finish it up Friday and Pat Sloan's Show & Tell.

X-Quisite

In 2003 or 2004, I saw Anita Grossman Solomon on Simply Quilts. I immediately went out and bought her book Make It Simpler Paper Piecing.  I'm not exaggerating when I tell you her techniques in that book changed my (quilting) life!

I rarely make a quilt exactly as it appears in a book. When I saw Hugs & Kisses by Marcella Peek in Anita's book, I couldn't wait to get started. The block is called X-quisite. The little squares finish at 2", but in Anita's world, you paper-piece a 6" 9-patch. (I know that won't make sense if you haven't seen it, so go check out this video.) She's a genius!

 

I had a small collection of reproduction 40's prints and just enough white on hand for the background. I changed the applique just a bit, adding the butterflies and smaller flowers, but you can see it is basically the same quilt, all the way to the scrappy binding. I'm guessing this quilt was finished in early 2004. (No label. Shame on me.)

When I finally took down the Christmas wall hanging from the kitchen wall, I put up this little beauty. It brightens up the room and makes me smile!  Every time I see Anita on TV or on the web, I learn something new. I'm now enrolled in her Craftsy class and I can't wait to get started on a new Anita quilt!

WIP Wednesday

 There hasn't been much sewing going on around here lately. It's all about the cookies for a few more weeks. My much-loved Bernina 153 was making a horrible squeaking noise. She spent a few days at the spa and is good as new and purring like a kitten again.

Finished: (well, sort of...) I finished the top and pieced the back of our guild raffle quilt. It was delivered to our resident machine quilter last Thursday.

 In Progress: Baby quilt for grandniece Olivia who was born on the 13th. The top was done before she was born, but I just couldn't risk quilting it with that nasty squeak. I'm planning to make an apron for big sister, Abby. Her 2nd birthday was yesterday. They may as well learn young that Aunt Tina's gifts are always late!

 In other news: Pete is currently on a school trip to Nicaragua! Bill and I are practicing empty-nesting and we are loving it. We can't wait to hear Pete's stories from this trip, but in the meantime we are enjoying a house that stays clean and food that doesn't instantly disappear from the pantry.

The snow has been beautiful, but winter is getting old. They tell me Spring is coming!

 Be sure to check out all the lovely quilt projects at Freshly Pieced. 

 

I'm heading back to the baby quilt.

Snow Day / Sew Day

 Winter Storm Blizzard Nemo was here! We are very lucky to have electricity and heat. My mom is safe, too. Her building almost never loses power.

I shoveled the path from the front door to the driveway and the men of the house took care of the rest. We ended up with about 18" of snow, which doesn't compare with some areas with well over 2 feet. The worst part was the wind. Heavy wet snow plus wind = downed branches that take out power lines. It could be another day or more before all the power is restored. Did I mention how lucky we are?

What is a quilter to do being snowed in for a few days? I finished the baby quilt top for my niece. It is pinned to this quilt on my kitchen wall and you can see it shadowing through. Baby quilts always look great on this green wall!

When I cut up the jelly roll for these blocks, I was left with one 2.5" square of each strip. I pieced these little 4-patches as leaders/enders while piecing the blocks and quilt top. A few triangles to fill in the sides and I'll have a sweet little Spring table topper.

Today will be sunny and a little warmer. We're praying that our friends will have power restored soon.

(Madrona) Road to Texas!

I'm so excited that my Madrona Road challenge piece was selected to hang in the Michael Miller booth at QuiltCon! It is a huge honor to represent the Rhode Island Modern Quilt Guild at this event. It was really a joy to work with these fabrics. Thank you, Michael Miller and Violet Craft, for a wonderful challenge!

My quilt from Little Rhody will be heading to Texas soon. I wish I could go, too!

I love this t-shirt design! Yes, I think that is to scale!

Half Square Triangles using Biggie Size Triangle Buddy

Do we need another half square triangle tutorial? Probably not. This will be my new go-to method for HSTs, and I hope some of you find it useful.

Bonnie and I are calling this the Biggie Size Triangle Buddy.

In this business, there is never one right way to do something. (Unless you ask the quilt police!) My goal has always been to find the method that works best for me. For 20+ years, I've been making HSTs this way: cut 2 squares 1" larger than the desired finished size, draw a diagonal, stitch 1/4" away from the line on both sides, cut apart on the line, press and trim to the correct unfinished size. It works and is forgiving, but it can take forever to trim all the blocks to the right size and you are left with this colorful mess.

This new method is inspired by Bonnie Hunter's Triangle Buddies. She uses triangle buddies to make little HSTs from the bonus triangles left over from piecing other units. I thought I'd try to make full size HSTs the same way. It worked like a charm!

In my example, I want to make HSTs from charm squares that will finish at 4".  With seam allowances added, the unfinished size will be 4.5", so I need to cut a triangle template that size.  Cut a 4.5" square, then cut across the diagonal. This template is your triangle buddy.
 I cut a cardboard template from leftover charm packaging. If you are not as cheap frugal as I am, you can cut your template from template plastic. 
(Don't panic. I only use this old rotary cutter for paper and cardboard.)

On the wrong side of one 5" fabric square, lay the template in one corner and mark the diagonal. 

Flip and mark the opposite diagonal.
(I used a new Frixion pen. It erases with the heat of an iron!)

Layer right sides together with another square.  

Stitch on both lines. 

Cut apart. You have two options here. 

1. Make one cut down the middle and end up with about 3/8" seam allowances. 

2. If that extra 1/8" bothers you, make two cuts, 1/4" away from each seam line. 

 Press open and you have two perfect HSTs and you didn't have to stitch a perfect 1/4" seam or cut 4-7/8" squares! (If the dog ears bug you, snip them off.)

Just to compare, in the other method, you would draw one line across the diagonal,

stitch 1/4" away from the line on both sides,

and trim off 1/8" from two sides.

Not having to trim off that little sliver is worth it for me!
So what do you think about Biggie Size Triangle Buddies?