Jelly Roll Race Quilts

Recently I hosted a Jelly Roll Race at Katja's Quilt Shoppe.  Several wonderful women participated in a fun filled day with all money raised going to the MS Society.  Originally I had challenged Katja to a race, and then we decided it would be way more fun if we invited a few other women to join in.  We were right.  The day was a lot of fun and yes, I did beat Katja.  We won't get into times, because then Katja will have to repeat all her excuses and nobody wants to here them.

Yesterday a few of these adventuresome women got together at the Shoppe to spend some time sewing, eating, laughing and of course, showing off there Jelly Roll Quilts.  Some used Bali Pops while others used Moda Jelly Rolls.  I will let you judge for yourself how wonderful all these quilts are.

A great job by all of these talented women.  Leave a comment with which quilt is your favorite, and bragging rights shall go to the winner.  I think I may of missed taking a picture of someone's quilt, and if so, I do apologize. 

After the wonderful display of quilts, I was shown a bag and eyeglass holder that one of the women had  made for a special friend.  The bag pattern is in American Patchwork and Quilting April 2011, and the eyeglass holder pattern is from Quilt Almanac 2011.  

       

How to join batting together

Once in a while, I receive a piece of batting to use in a quilt, that isn't quite big enough. This happened yesterday, so I decided it was a good opportunity (silver lining in every cloud) to show you how to piece batting together.
The first step is to make sure both pieces of batting are cut straight and square.  Next, cut a 1 1/2" wide piece of fusible pellon, the type that is fusible only on one side.

Now, butt the two pieces of batting up to each other, and place the piece of pellon over the area you wish to join.  Make sure the fusible side is down.  Why do I say something so obvious?  Well let's just say I've placed it fusible side up a couple of times, and made a real mess of my iron.  With your iron set on wool setting if you are using cotton batting, and poly setting if using polyester batting, fuse the pellon to the two pieces of batting.

This bond is fairly secure, and will hold the batting together until you get the quilting done. There are several other methods of joining batting together, but I use this method because it is quick and easy.

Camping at Knouff

This past weekend Doug and I went camping at Knouff Lake with some friends.  Knouff Lake is well know for fishing, however we went just to enjoy the scenery.  The weather was a little cool, but the time spent with friends was priceless.

Blanche always enjoys our camping trips, it's the getting there that she complains about.  Here she is enjoying our view from our campsite.

This is looking south along the lake.  What a wonderful view!

Getting Started with Mr Fix-It

Well, here I go.
This blog is about quilting, and any other random events in my life.  I love to design, piece and longarm quilt.  Every aspect has it's own rewards.

Recently I designed a quilt for Katja's Quilt Shoppe using the Mr. Fix-It panel.   I started with the panel, .8 m. of the pegboard fabric, .6 m. of the hammer fabric and 1.25 m. of the border fabric.

I cut the six blocks apart.

I trimmed the blocks to 9 1/2", then sashed them with a 2" piece of the pegboard fabric.

I then made six 9 patch blocks from 4 1/2" squares of the hammer and pegboard fabric.  The twelve blocks were then pieced together alternating a panel block with the nine patches.  The border was then added by cutting the border fabric into 6 1/2" sections.  I applied the side borders first, then the top and bottom.

Next came a little quilting.

And here is the completed quilt!