Sew Joy

Tent Flap Star Quilt Top and Outtakes

2012-02-12T10:03:00.000-05:00

This is a UFO from last February. The block is named 'tent flaps' and was designed by Pat Sloan.

I pulled the blocks out this past week and decided I wanted at least the top made before my birthday at the end of this month.Here's a photo of the blocks arranged how I am putting them together - into a star. {You can really see my long entrance way window rectangles in this light}

I had played with my block arrangement and taken some photos to keep track of the options.
This is a really busy looking group of pinwheels. Outtake 1.

Outtake 2. I liked the focus on the print, but the setting doesn't have enough focus for a wallhanging. It would be a fun quilt top though.

Outtake 3. I don't have enough blocks or fabric to keep this pattern going. You'll see some of this option did make it into my final product.

I call this one a Modern Outtake. I like this setting, but it's not the one I chose. And those long strips of yellow squares are no longer available - used up in another project I guess!

Tent Flap Star

I'm really happy with how it's turned out so far. The borders were a bit tricky and I wrestled a bit with lining up the corner squares, but I did it!
I don't have any backing fabric selected for this one so it will get added to the small pile of finished tops.
I do know that I'd like to use orange or a fun stripe I have as the binding!

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Upcycled Love

2012-02-10T09:10:00.001-05:00

A couple weekends ago I decided to play with some of my most recent selvages and make this heart pillow.

Fortunately for me {not so much for my husband's wardrobe!} one of my husband's new shirts shrunk. It's 100% cotton and feels soft, maybe it's brushed cotton?

My husband's second comment on discovering the shrunken state of his new shirt was "Why don't you make something with it?" So I did.

I know you can guess his first comment!

I used the heart template from my Pockets of Love pattern and changed up the layout for a simpler, more modern look. I did make the 'top' heart into a pocket by not sewing down the curves when I sewed the heart onto the pillow.

I enjoyed playing with the stripe selvage. I made two, 5 inch by 10 inch rectangles with 5 different selvages. I changed the positions of the selvages on each rectangle to give me 2 sets of hearts.

My husband is a pretty big guy. This was a XL dress shirt so I had no problem in cutting a big enough piece from the back of it for my pillow. I've even saved a few 5 inch charms cut from the rest of the shirt to play with on another weekend.

It was a pretty quick project to make and I really liked using the shirt front as the back of my pillow.

I think I see some more shrinking shirts in my future!

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

Checking in with a Winner and a Finish!

2012-02-06T19:56:00.002-05:00

Janet is the winner of my wool rotary cutter ornament. Congratulations, Janet!

The football season is over and I'm happy to report that I finished binding this quilt during the first half of the Superbowl. I met my goal and this 12 year old UFO is finished!!

Sorry for my absence here. I am currently working at 2 different jobs outside of the home in addition to raising my children, keeping dishes and clothes clean and all that jazz. Quilting has become a joy that is captured in scattered moments throughout my week. I'm hoping to catch up on some blogging real soon!

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

Giveaway Photo and My Big Panel Quilts

2012-01-25T20:16:00.001-05:00

Here's the promised photo for you of the giveaway prize. ONE of these wool rotary cutter ornaments - the other one is for me!

You still have time to comment on yesterday's post to enter.

So far it looks like quilters have a 'thing' for specialty rulers. Not surprising I guess as how you cut your fabric is one of the first steps in making a quilt.

I must admit I own very few rulers - on purpose! I have always had a small quilting space and wondered about how I would store rulers and still have access to them. Out of sight, out of mind for me:)

The ruler in the photo above is called Speedy Strips and copyrighted to Jackie Black. I inherited it from my husband's granny and really love how long it is - 22.5 inches. In this photo I'm using it to cut the angled lines of a liberated churn dash.

I keep this one and my Omnigrid 18 inch long ruler on my cutting table above my cutting mat.

I'll share more rulers in another post, but wanted to show you what happens for me when I don't have the specialty rulers. . .

I design blocks without them! This is my attempt at a dresden with no rulers. The blades are 2.5 inch strips. It's a large block - 18 inches square. This is going to be my next panel quilt - and maybe a tutorial for those who want to play along!

But not next week! I'm still binding away on Maeve, my latest panel quilt.

Latest is relative as this quilt is a 12 year long UFO. My plan is to have it finished for the Super Bowl!

This is a peek of what she will look like when I finish the binding. She's a smaller queen than my Liberated Churn Dash quilt which you can see hanging out below.

Back to binding,

Sarah Vee

p.s. Remember to check out my poll too - where do you find quilting inspiration online?

January Poll and a Giveaway

2012-01-23T16:04:00.001-05:00

I've been getting lots of visitors lately checking out my Liberated Churn Dash tutorial.
Welcome!
I want to publicly thank Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Fabrics who linked to my tutorial on her Facebook Wall. {and in her newsletter! - sign up at her blog}

Do you use Facebook?
I've put up a little poll in the sidebar for you to share where you go online for quilting inspiration.
I haven't jumped on the Facebook bandwagon yet, {I guess it's more like a virtual wave} and am wondering if I'm missing something.
I hope you'll share and get something out of the results of the poll too.

New Tools for 2012

I did a little after Christmas shopping and got some new supplies to try out this year:

an iron shoe (suggested by Vickie for use when fusing applique)
basting safety pins - bigger is better! LOL! I used these when finishing up my latest big quilt
D rings - which I almost tried out already when I found Ariane's link to t-shirt belts
machine quilting needles - which kept hopping out of my machine until one finally broke. These ones have since been replaced with Schmetz ones - so far so good.
A Sullivan's Edge ruler - that Pat Sloan helped to develop. It definitely does sharpen your blade!
embroidery scissors - too cute to resist! A cash register impulse buy - and very pointy.

My Tool Giveaway

No it's not going to be one of the above - in fact it's not going to be a REAL tool at all!

I finally took some time to make another block from Kay Mackenzie's book, Easy Applique Blocks. I actually used some wool charm squares that I got {for myself} last Christmas!

I modified the design a little bit - leaving the ribbon off and well, not putting the rotary cutter ON a block. Instead my plan is to make it into a tree ornament. You can hang it on your Christmas tree or somewhere else in your sewing space.

Yes, You!
I made one to keep and one to give away- and haven't taken a photo of either!

Leave me a comment telling my your favourite new tool you received/bought lately - or something you would like to get soon!

I'll pick a random winner from comments on this post on Friday, January 27th.
Maybe I'll even post a photo before then!

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Clean up and Create!

2012-01-17T18:53:00.001-05:00

Santa may have had a little help in picking out this toy box for my studio.

It fits perfectly under my cutting table. Right now I have my finished quilts in it. And it is firm enough to use the top as a 'holding zone' for my current projects.

I've also used a little bit of time this month to tidy up around my sewing space. It's a never ending process as the size and type of projects I work on change from year to year. This year I want to to work on quilting some of my UFOs and making small quilts.

I also want to make space to create - new designs and dreamboards. Part of what I have made room for in my space is more paper stuff - without it all ending up in one pile at the end of my cutting table! This long file folder hanging pockets contraption should do the trick;)

The first step in organizing stuff is knowing what you've got!

I decided to move the dark green tote that holds leftover batting scraps and fabrics collected for future projects out of my sewing room closet. It's not something I use every week - or even every month. Definitely more of a long term storage container. It's in my son's ginormous closet now.

As you can see, sorting my stuff with my new priorities in mind gave me lots of room to store what I need to keep close. I was able to move my rolling cart into the closet to open up my floor space - which is important working in a small area. You can click on the photo above to get a better look.

I don't buy a lot of storage containers. Actually, I've found some of my most useful ones for free. These stacking boxes, that originally carried cucumbers, make great storage for my strawberry containers of smaller fabrics. I label them and store them on the top shelf of my closet.

I even managed to clear out the top shelf in my cupboard that sits right beside my cutting table. It's already started to fill up with fabrics for current ideas, but I did get it sorted and cleaned up first!

On top of my cupboard I've stacked some of my new storage containers. I'm trying to get an assortment of smaller containers for handwork projects {yeah, that's the reason!}
This tends to be a dump zone for me and I'm trying really hard to make it a useful, pretty spot. I've already added a few angels from my collection that I've found since tidying here {after I started attacking the boxes in my bedroom closet!}

The beginning of the year is always a useful time for me to focus on what I want to accomplish in a year.

Knowing WHAT you want to do in your space,

HOW you are going to do it,

WHEN you are going to do it,

makes the WHY of

arranging your space and storage an easier process.

Clear up, Clean out and Create!

Sarah Vee

Starting with White

2012-01-09T12:15:00.000-05:00

My January Dreamboard. I'm linking up at Jamie Ridler's studio to share my January dreams.This month's full moon prompt is "What do you hunger for?"

White Space is what I first thought when I saw this board completed.
Then my second thought was SNOW!
It has been a very different winter for us in Northern Ontario. We have had very little snow. It has surprised me how much I enjoy the changed landscape of winter with its refreshing, clean white promises of the coming spring's renewal. It has been difficult to focus on moving forward without the seasonal reminder to breathe in and surrender to the elements.

I also see a hunger for

travel,

sleep,

adventure,

money{financial security/spending money!},

and for light to shine on my inner life brighter

{foreshadow of my February birthday approaching}

No snow has also meant less time shovelling and more time inside! Instead we have been clearing out and cleaning up inside our home. My sewing space feels fresh and new with most everything tidied up and cleaned off.

This repurposed hanging file folder pocket sleeve is my latest attempt at organizing the paper clutter that piles up on the end of my cutting table. So far so good.

We won't mention the fact that I have lost a ruler this morning in all this blank space.
It's see through and apparently enjoying a new outlook on life as well:)

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Start with a Finish!

2012-01-04T09:37:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! I spent my New Year's Eve weekend online with my quilting friends at Pat Sloan's Quilt Mashup Forum. Pat hosts an awesome - and awe inspiring - weekend of UFO busting on New Year's and this year - I busted!

My string quilt from 2010 is now a QUILT! I finished quilting the seams and the binding over the weekend. I attached the binding by machine on both sides of the quilt. I also added the label that I had printed and ready.

It's pretty detailed! I typed it up when I was first putting the strings together. I used a fabric designed to be printed on and is it ever hard to hand quilt through! But it's on;)

I finished another small wallhanging Monday {no photo yet!} and have made progress on my Lady of the Lake quilt. YES this one! I just might get it done as a birthday present for me!

Hope your New Quilting Year is off to a great start.

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

Design Wall end of 2011

2011-12-28T09:28:00.000-05:00

My final Design Wall for 2011

I'm so excited to be starting a new year of quilting! I have lots of little quilts - and a few big ones - ready and waiting for me to finish them next year.

This little one fills me with Joy! It was designed by Jan Patek for Quilt Sampler 1998. It's called Folk Art Garden and it was the pattern for the Liberty Quilt Shop in Liberty, MO. It's finished size will be 22.5 x 15 inches.

You can tell the pattern was designed before the introduction of pre cut fabrics. The instructions for the outside border were to make 4.5 inch strips with random widths of fabric and trim to 2.5 inches. I should have read it again before I started cutting - I could have used 5 inch squares and cut them in half to make two identical borders. But then again, I like the whimsy and folk look of this border - and I have some strips leftover to make another mini quilt!!

My final mini quilt of 2011 is this art quilt I made up on Christmas Eve. It's a new handpiece to work on this winter. It measures 13.5 x 12 inches. The main background material is leftovers from the Happiness Key wallhanging I have to finish still. I simply grabbed my baggie of fused scraps from the Layer Cake Quilt Along {also still to be completed!} and made a picture with the scraps. Then I added some of my newest fabric from my sister for the border. I think I will be machine quilting this one and adding some beads to the water. I have been reviewing Laura Wasilowski's stitching guide and getting really excited about where my small quilts will take me in 2012.

I have a few plans to share with you over the course of 2012. The first one is to let you know my Sew JOY Decor bundle of patterns will be available until Dec 31st and then it's gone! I'm planning a new bundle for you in February. So if you'd like to start on some sewing for yourself or some early gifts - grab the bundle here!

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

A Quilt For Christmas

2011-12-23T09:12:00.000-05:00

For my son, Samuel

Christmas 2011

Michigan Mystery Quilt 2009

Pattern "O Sole Mio" (My Own Sun)

by Debbie Caffrey

Pieced and Quilted by Sarah Vanderburgh

{size: 53" x 74"}

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Wishing you Peace and Joy,

Sarah Vee

My Happy Spot + Winners

2011-12-18T08:06:00.000-05:00

One of my current happy places in my house is right next to my sewing machine. I'm not sewing much right now, but I do get to walk by and glance at some of my favourite things more than once a day.

Do you see my new mug?! Time will tell if any more will come my way next year;)

The snowman is holding up a sweet load of peppermints sent to me by a quilty friend in the U.S.. Both of my kids LOVE them - I may have to put them in a higher safe place.

Hello Kitty is punched out of a Happy Meal box. I admit it. I have a little 'thing' for the kitty right now!

The card made by my son out of leftover half square triangles.
The 'note' out front in yellow writing is a train ticket from him. There's always an adventure going on in his little world.

My "S" box from my sis full of safety pins again - because I AM DONE quilting my son's quilt for Christmas. Just need to finish the binding. Hopefully later today and tomorrow.

My pincushion sitting atop an early gift from my mother in law.

A magnetic bowl. It was great for slipping my pins onto it as I finished quilting. It's so strong that the bobbins in the top drawer were drawn to it!

Miss Kitty approves:)

Behind the bowl?

A wooden pencil box that I've had forever and am now using to store my bobbins!

There was a brief discussion over at Pat Sloan's Quilt Mashup Forum about bobbin storage and I was disappointed in not finding a plastic magic cure when I went to Walmart last weekend. It really made me look around at what I already had and I found this old treasure.

It will fit two rows of bobbins. It should be useful for a very long time!

On to the Winners!

I asked my DH to pick three numbers and here are the winners and their comments about making for the holiday season.

Mary C replied

I like to make cookies and candy for our neighbors and friends. I spend a couple of days creating, plating and delivering the homemade gifts.

Dix replied

I like to make stocking stuffers in crochet or knitting.

and Michell replied

I have made a couple of table runners before, but i like making coaster as they are so fast to make

Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Blog Hop Party Giveaway

There's still time to get your very own

The Bundle will be available until the end of 2011

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

Crafting on the Go

2011-12-13T09:15:00.000-05:00

The first weekend in December I found myself headed to the curling rink to watch my daughter in her first ever bonspiel. I knew I would have a lot of time on my hands and my four year old son!

A perfect opportunity to try out my idea to make these little cards.

I had postcard size cardstock from the dollar store and a whole bunch of leftover half square triangles from making my Primitive Joy tabletopper.

I couldn't part with them, but I really don't have time to sew anything out of them.

I stuffed the triangles into this handy tin and a little gluestick - which fits perfectly!

Very handy tin!

The cardstock I put into a plastic baggie and shoved them both in my travel bag.

{I'm a mom - do I really dare call it a purse when half the stuff in it isn't for me!LOL}

My son and I made trees and houses with the triangles.

With bigger cardstock I think we could have made pinwheels or snowflakes.

I'm planning to use the cards as gift tags and to send school portraits in the mail.

This is the only card made by my son that made it home.

He made lots of log cabins - a triangle for the roof and drew in the logs.

He handed them out to the people who run the curling rink. The counter top was full!

{He also drew them several 'posters' of hotdogs for sale. I think he made a few friends}

If you look closely, you can see he drew ornaments on his tree too.

I hope you find some time to keep the magic of the season alive.

My giveaway is still open until the 17th.

Click on this link to leave a comment

for your chance to win!

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

Blog Hop Party Giveaway

2011-12-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Party! I've been rather busy this month away from my blog, but still thought I could help celebrate the season by joining this giveaway hosted by Michelle at the Quilting Gallery.

There's still time to get a little making done this season.

Here are a few ideas

Stocking - simply make and fill or just make!

This is a quick, big stocking to make. You can use the template and create any pattern. Use up some strips of leftover Christmas prints, solid charm squares, or even one big piece of fabric! You could add seasonal applique - stars, holly, mittens, etc. or maybe the recipients name or the year.

Coasters - can you ever have too many?!?!

Placemat - this one with charms

I love placemats. I have more designs in mind, just have to make the time to get to them.

A great, simple project to use up seasonal charm packs.

Here's another design

You can purchase this pattern here.

{or maybe you'd rather win it?!}

My Giveaway

I am giving away a copy of my pattern, Primitive JOY.

It includes full size templates and a tabletopper version of the wallhanging.

I'm also giving away one of my Pattern Bundles - Sew JOY Decor

The bundle includes the placemat pattern I already mentioned,

plus my Selvage JOY Pillow cover

and the Fa La La Letter applique.

I will be picking 3 winners.

My patterns are pdf - download only.

You can live anywhere and I can send them to you right away!

Leave me a comment to be entered to win.

Tell me what you like to make for gifts

{you don't have to sew it! Maybe cookies?}

*****Please make sure I have a way to contact you

- leave an email address in your comment if you're not sure.

You can always check your blog profile before you start entering all of the giveaways.

In your User Profile you should have checked off

"show my email address"

so that I can reply to your comment.*****

My giveaway is open until

noon EST Sat., Dec. 17th.

The Blog Party hop starts Dec. 10th

Have fun visiting the other party stops!

Remember to take time to enjoy the magic of this special season

With JOY,

Sarah Vee

Merry Making with Mistyfuse

2011-12-02T19:29:00.001-05:00

When I designed this quilt I knew I would use Mistyfuse for my applique. Why? Because with Mistyfuse I can make my letter templates the right way up and not have to think backwards at any step in the process. I can draw my template the way I want it to look on my quilt and start the fusing process. I don't have to think about reversing anything - no second guessing letter direction or if my holly leaf {in this example} is pointed in the right direction on my fabric.

I did a quick review of using this paperless fusible the first time I used it back here.

This time I thought I might make a few quick pointers that would help you in this frenzied making season.

Are you frenzied? Are you making?

HERE'S HOW I APPLIQUE WITH MISTYFUSE

Trace your template onto parchment paper. For this quilt I simply traced the same 'l' and 'a' as many times as I needed it. {Next time I might try and see if I can use my template more than once}

Put your template RIGHT SIDE UP on your ironing surface.

Cut your Mistyfuse to size. It's a good idea to do this in good lighting. The Mistyfuse has no paper on it so it becomes almost invisible and tricky to see in dappled light.

Try to cut the Mistyfuse so that it doesn't go over the edge of your template parchment.

If it does - don't worry - simply place a larger piece of parchment paper under your template parchment and then start layering.

Once your Mistyfuse is cut and in place, put your fabric RIGHT SIDE UP on top of the pile.

Finish with another piece of parchment paper that extends past the edges of the fabric being fused.

In some cases I reverse the pile like in the photo above:

Large piece of parchment paper

Fabric RIGHT SIDE DOWN

Mistyfuse

Template RIGHT SIDE DOWN

This way I can keep a visual on the Mistyfuse bits and make sure they were covering the template.

I know it LOOKS upside down, but I didn't have to think that way! This is mostly to make sure that when I fuse I don't end up with Mistyfuse where I don't want it - on my iron and ironing board.

HEAT is the KEY
I put my iron on the SILK setting when doing the first fuse of the Mistyfuse to the fabric. You don't want it too hot, but you do want it hot enough to fuse. Five seconds is all it takes most times.

At this point magic happens!

You can peel back your template, slowly, and you should see your template pencil lines on the back of the fabric. If it is faint in some places, gently put the pieces back together and use your iron for a few more seconds. You can keep checking until two things look right - most of your pencil lines have transferred to the fabric

and you no longer see sticky residue

You may hear a peeling sound kind of like velcro, but softer, when you take your layers apart.

That's a happily fused fabric sound! I like that sound:)

You will also still probably have pencil lines on your parchment paper; this is why I think you might be able to reuse these parchment paper templates. I just haven't yet.

Now you can cut out your fabric on the transferred template lines.

Put a fresh piece of parchment paper between your iron and the fabrics you are fusing together. You want a fresh piece in case some Mistyfuse got stuck on the parchment paper - you won't see it until it's a shiny mistake on your project! Don't be stingy here - with practice you will know how close to trim your Mistyfuse for your templates and how much parchment paper is 'enough'.

Use the COTTON heat setting on your iron to fuse the fabric to your applique background. This may take up to 10 seconds.

Now your are ready to stitch around your appliqued fabric .

I like Mistyfuse because I find the appliqued fabric has very little extra weight to it and this makes it move through my sewing machine with ease. It's easy to handstitch through too.

Most recently, I used Mistyfuse to place my final pieces on this little quilt that I've been doing hand blanket stitch on. I decided I wasn't going to work around any more pins on this project and fused the cat and the basket down using Mistyfuse.

In this case my shapes were already cut out. I simply cut pieces of Mistyfuse to fit under the cat - really tiny pieces for under the legs - placed parchment paper on top and my iron on the COTTON setting.

My pieces are not 100% fused, but they are fused enough that they won't move and so that I can stitch around the edges by hand with no pins in the pieces.

I just might get this one done before the end of this year's football season.

Underneath the ironing board you can see another project {shh, it's a Christmas gift!} where using Mistyfuse helped me a lot because it kept my fused fabric thin.

Have I convinced you to try fusing with Mistyfuse yet?

Leave me any questions you might have and I'll answer them in the comments - or try to!

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

Christmas is Coming - Links from Blogland

2011-11-30T08:33:00.001-05:00

Okay, Joyful Peeps,

Let's Get Ready for the

Season of JOY!


Jolly Holiday List for allsorts

Make a Pretty List - I'm using these sweet little elves to give me a jolly grin while I check off my to-do's for December.

Jenny at Allsorts made this cute list to print out.

I printed out enough to have one list for each day - reminders of special events, things to mail, things to pay, things to buy, things to finish making!

I plan to write my tasks in bright colours and keep these lists close by

{and away from peeking eyes!}.


Sew Cal Gal's Show

I may not be ready in time to join in this fun, but SewCalGal's Christmas Quilt Show has begun!

Beautiful quilts to be seen and enjoyed and lots of fabulous prizes.

Use this as a reward for getting some of those less pleasant seasonal preparations completed

{like hanging Christmas lights in below zero temps!!}

Snow topped Christmas tree

I found TeresaDownUnder while searching for a tutorial.

She has some lovely Christmas projects to make.

And the tutorial I needed to make that special something:)

Remember to take time to PLAY in the magic of the season,

Sarah Vee

Covered with JOY - Design Wall end of November

2011-11-28T08:44:00.001-05:00

My design wall is Fu -ull this week! All 3 projects are for ME and will probably be up there for a little while as I try to finish up some Christmas gifts.

One project - an ongoing sampler project using these 4 fabrics - the poinsettia print, gold, hand dyed pink {by Jackie} and a dark green I found after I started making the blocks. The top two blocks are from the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks volume 4. The one on the top right is my block made with a print instead of the holly applique.

The trees on the bottom left are the cut offs from the block above it. I can't throw anything out! I love the challenge of making until the fabric runs out:) My son played with this block and put his own button design on it. I played with the buttons too and took a photo before I put them back in the jar.

The baskets are for me too! I think this is as big as it's going to get due to fabric limitations. Which is okay, because I have enough of the blue to do the binding and I think I like it this simple. The basket applique is a Pat Sloan pattern. If you're really curious you can see my original intentions here for this little quilt I call "Hybrid Happiness".

I'm really happy with my little log cabin blocks. They are 5.5 inches unfinished, made of 1.5 inch scraps and are my current leaders and enders project. The last two are waiting for their final 'logs'. I'm planning to make a whole bunch of small quilts next year and am really happy to have this one almost finished. It will measure approximately 15 x 20 inches.

I'm glad I like these projects because I may be looking at them all month! This week the plan is to finish up some Christmas presents to mail away next week. Then my son's quilt for Christmas - I am almost done quilting it. Nothing like a deadline to finish quilting a quilt!! Then I usually plan one project to finish up over New Year's. I haven't decided which one yet this year. . . I'll let you know:)

Check out some more design walls through the link up at Judy of Patchwork Times blog today.

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

Oh, Thank Cuteness! Post of Joy

2011-11-21T16:40:00.001-05:00

How could I resist an invitation from Sandi

to participate in this week's

Oh Thank Cuteness Linkup?

Especially when it led to

a wonderful discovery that Scott

is heading up this great magazine!

Cuteness comes and goes around here, usually depending on my amount of sleep {wink}

Today the cuteness came out with our first snow fall!

Not enough to cover the grass, but enough to get my two kids EXCITED about what's coming. . .

The prompt for the display of cuteness around blog land was apparently a blog comment somewhere a few weeks ago by a disgruntled visitor who wanted to see JUST quilts on a blog.

Around here it is mostly quilts, but a lot of my quilting is inspired by cute things - my children and my sibling's children to start.

Quilting started for me out of a quiet, lonely despair about not being able to conceive. I talked about my story a bit here. If you check out the post at Generation Q today, you'll read that I'm not alone in my beginnings. Quilting brought me joy in my darkest moments and continues to bring give me the opportunity to celebrate the joyous ones!

I love quilting.

I love the world of quilters I have discovered

through magazines, books and online.

I love making quilts and quilt patterns.

I love sharing my love of quilting.

But it's not all cute.

Today I really needed to take some time and work on pattern writing. My children were home for a PD day. My 4 year old son has no concept of how long a 'turn' is on the computer and that I would like to WORK on the computer and not just PLAY.

Sew. . .

I pulled out a quilt block that I've been working on. He thought it would look more like trees once there were decorations on them.

I pulled out my buttons. And took a lid off one of my organizing totes.

I dumped the buttons into a box and he decorated while I wrote.

Then he needed to add snow.

Then we printed a picture of his button work 4 times. He cut them out and has a proud pile of artwork to take to school to show his teacher tomorrow.

I fleshed out the 'guts' of one pattern and made a list of photos to edit and insert.

Then we made Cocoa Oatmeal muffins to celebrate. And he fell promptly to sleep.

Okay, so Cuteness prevailed today!

Enjoy the links and take some time to be thankful for all the Cuteness in your life.

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

Starting to Look at Sashing

2011-11-19T17:00:00.000-05:00

I'm not an expert on quilts, but I have looked at lots of them to figure out what I like and why the quilter did what {usually} she did to make her quilt work. Mostly I've looked at quilts with pieced blocks because those are the type of quilts I have been most drawn to make.

Here's some observations I've made about Quilts with Pieced Blocks.

My Sew Modern Bee quilt - Liberated Churn Dashes

Many pieced quilts are made with one block repeated to create the quilt. These can be traditional blocks or more modern blocks, like my Liberated Churn Dash, which may not be symmetrical in design, but still sewn beside each other to create the quilt.

quilt I'm making for my son

Many are made with two alternating blocks to create a secondary design.

UFO sampler quilt

Many 'first quilts' are sampler quilts - a collection of different blocks usually joined with sashing.

{My quick definition: Sashing is the addition of blocks or fabric placed between blocks to create harmony in the overall design.}

Sashing! Lots of things to observe here!

Traditional quilts tend to add design elements from the block themselves to make the sashing.

Corner stones and half square triangles are good examples.

Sometimes the sashing has smaller, connecting blocks like ninepatches or stars.

A great place to browse through sashing options is the Layer Cake Quilt Along flickr pool. I've gotten a few ideas there for ways to sash some of my quilts in waiting:)

UFO basket sampler quilt

Sashing can be very obvious - it can be strips of fabrics which look like borders between blocks. In my Basket Sampler quilt top, you can see how sashing can join blocks of different sizes as well as blocks with different background colours very effectively. Adding sashing can be a fun way to 'build' a quilt with orphan blocks.

Sashing can be planned in the block design and used to created new designs between quilt blocks.

I noticed several of the blocks designed in this issue of Quiltmaker's 100 blocks have sashing elements in them. Some planning will be needed to join these blocks to different ones {neat patterns will appear if you repeat them!}

Several blocks already have borders as part of their design. You can make these borders the same colour as the background of the block to make them disappear - then you can add your own sashing to join these blocks to more blocks!

Sashing can make just about any group of blocks friends!

I'm 'planning' to work on several quilts next year that need sashing. I seem to have run out of time right now to start something new - surprised?! With American Thanksgiving next weekend and Christmas approaching fast, I'm going to be focussing on some tutorials for quick gift making. I've been working on quilting my son's Christmas quilt {getting there!} and working on writing patterns. My blog writing has suffered - lots of ideas in 'draft' but not much published. I'm hoping to do better next week!

I have started a newsletter - you can sign up for it in my sidebar. Once a month {or so} I plan to send one out, highlighting popular posts, and projects I'm working on. It will also feature special previews and coupons for my quilt patterns.

I'm also working outside of the home{like many of you!}, checking my Christmas lists {twice} and applying some tough love to my quilting time thanks to a business course I'm taking.

All this means I'm posting less, planning more, and making quilt pattern making more of my life!

Here's my latest idea for you:

A pattern bundle! 3 patterns for $10. You can check it out here.

Phew! Finally a post!
Sarah Vee

Design Wall for mid November

2011-11-14T09:00:00.001-05:00

A super quick post today as I just got called in to work.

My design wall this week features some 5.5 inches unfinished log cabin blocks. They are my current 'leaders and enders' project.

Then I have up two blocks from the newest Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, volume 4. The one on the left is block 369 by Debbie Bowles - it's on the front cover in blues and green. I thought I could cut it to look like holly? Not sure how successful I was.

The second block is MY block without the appliqued holly. I'm hoping to make a few more blocks so I can use them to chat about sashing {like I promised last week!}

Of course, I could always turn them into a set of placemats for a Christmas present.

Doesn't November seem to get sucked into a void of sewing time! How come there's sooooo much other stuff to plan and prepare when there is so much sewing to do?!?LOL

Take a few stitches {and breaths!} today.

Enjoy some more design walls up at Judy's link.

Hi Ho Hi Ho,

Sarah Vee

Quick Christmas Giveaway

2011-11-12T07:40:00.001-05:00

Thanks to all for commenting on my 100 Blocks Giveaway. My winner has been contacted by email. I'll let you know once I hear back:)

I did get the chance to finish adding some more holly and joining my la-la's together.

Just in the nick of time too! My husband's dad is coming for a quick family Christmas - today!

What's a quilter to do with an unfinished quilt top?

Make it do, of course! I used some red bias binding from Granny's stash {probably intended for placemats decades ago} and some clips. I weaved the bias through the clips and over and under a curtain rod and it's up!

It's a little wavy, but I tried to put lots of clips so it wouldn't stress my seams too much. This is where I intend to hang the quilt when it's done, too. I am adding a bit more border, but it fits great!

This is the nook of space in my house I think about when I plan wall hangings - I love this spot:)

Quick Giveaway to Get you Ready for Christmas

Leave me a comment to win one of my patterns.

Click the link to see them.

Just tell me which one would help

you get ready for Christmas

and I'll send you the pdf copy of it.

If downloading patterns isn't in your comfort zone,

tell me that in your comment too.

I am thinking about offering hard copies {real paper mailed to you!} soon.

~~You have this weekend to enter.~~

~~Comments close when my in-laws leave~~

~~Sunday at NOON EST.~~

Pumpkin Pie - baked.

Chocolate Zucchini cake - baked.

Quilts hung - check!

I'm ready - my husband can figure out dinner:)

Let Christmas and the Giveaway begin:)

EDITED TO ADD: My company has left and Sharon is my winner! I've emailed her. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

With JOY,

Sarah Vee

100 Blocks Guest Post - Kay Mackenzie

2011-11-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

Greetings friends of Sarah Vee! I'm Kay Mackenzie, a quilter and designer in Santa Cruz, California. Sarah and I both have blocks in Volume 4 of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks. Not only that, we've discovered that they're right next to each other on the cover! How fun is that?

Sarah told me that she's doing a series on sashing options for joining blocks together, and asked me if I would like to do one on appliqué blocks. I thought I would show two simple ideas that lend a little bit more interest than just setting blocks together plain.

Lots of classic appliqué quilts have no sashing and are simply stunning. If you'd like to add just a little touch to the setting, here are a couple of things I've done.

In the sampler quilt "Shall I Pour?" from my book, Teapots to Appliqué, I used floating squares.

The sashing strips are the same fabric as the background squares, and the cornerstones are squares of the print fabrics used for the teapots. This design puts little touches of harmonious color in and amongst the blocks without overwhelming them.

In "A Little More Tea" from Teapots 2 to Appliqué, I used the "sew and flip" method, also called "snowball corners," to add scrappy triangles to the corners of each block.

When the blocks are sewn together, the triangles form quarter-square diamonds of unmatched prints, creating a mosaic or picassiette effect. Again, a way to add interest without taking away from the appliqué in the blocks themselves.

I hope these simple ideas help spark your thoughts about settings!

Cheers,
Kay

By Kay Mackenzie
http://www.kaymackenzie.com Books, patterns, & etc. for the quilter
http://www.allaboutapplique.net Appliqué blog
Author • Inspired by Tradition: 50 Appliqué Blocks in 5 Sizes • That Patchwork Place
Author • Scrap-Appliqué Playground • coming April 2012 from That Patchwork Place

Sarah here - Thanks so much, Kay, for your great applique setting ideas. Make sure you check out Kay's blog today as she is featuring her 100 Quiltmaker block today - which means another chance to win a copy of the magazine!

This is the last day of the tour so you might also want to check the Quilty Pleasures blog to make sure you hit all the designers' blogs before the end of the giveaways.

~~And you still have time for my 100 Block giveaway if you leave a comment here before midnight tonight.~~

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

100 Blocks Giveaway Day - Jolly Holly Fun!

2011-11-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Giveaway Day! I am really happy to be included in this issue of 100 Blocks. I may have even squealed when I saw that my block made it to the cover!

Jolly Holly - block 362

I wanted to do an applique block with a pieced backing. I thought the buttons were a fun way to add berries without having to applique too many circles! Of course, I had to add the buttons to my submission, but you wouldn't add the buttons until after your quilt was done. Right?!

I also wanted my block to be fun for the quilter who is still shy about doing applique.

I finally found a happy home for this City Girl Holiday fabric by Kitty Yoshida. I fussy cut the middle to feature the beautiful poinsettias and framed them in gold. I'm planning to make a few of the Christmas blocks in this issue with more of this fabric to create a little sampler for me.

When I was designing this block in April there was no snow or mistletoe around to inspire me. When it came time to put something together for this blog tour, the Fall weather made it a little easier for me to find inspiration.

Do you enjoy hearing the familiar Christmas carols when you're out shopping? Maybe you would like a visual reminder of a favourite. . .

It's not quite finished yet, but you get the idea! I think it's a really fun idea to Deck my Hall with this wallhanging:)

And - you can get the letter templates NOW!

You can purchase the templates for my letters and make your own Jolly Holly quilt:)
You will need the magazine for the block pattern and the holly template.
You can sign up for my newsletter in the sidebar where I'll let you know when my pattern is done.

Giveaway Time!

Leave me a comment telling me your favourite type of quilt block to make - pieced, applique, mixed? to win a copy of the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, Vol. 4.

My giveaway will be open until midnight EST Fri. Nov. 11th.
I use the Random Generator to pick a winner.

Please make sure you leave an email address in your comment if you are a *no reply blogger*.

Good luck to all!
I hope you are enjoying the blog tour. Be sure to check in at Quilty Pleasures for tour stops each day and extra giveaways.

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

Tomorrow is My Quiltmaker Giveaway Day

2011-11-08T15:21:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is my day on the Quiltmaker's 100 block blog tour.

Be sure to come back for a chance to win a copy of the magazine.

I also found out while perusing the Quilty Pleasures Blog that they are giving away mugs!

You know the mugs.

THE MUGS!

{This is mine from last time around.}

Only on the giveaways on their blog.

Go ahead. You will feel like a designer too:)

And while you're in designing mode, I'm going to keep chatting about sashing next week.

This week has gotten away from me!

And I really want to show you something new tomorrow:)

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

My New Orange Joy

2011-11-06T17:34:00.003-05:00

This weekend we went for a speedy quick visit to my folks.

My dad had these treasures for me!

I love reading old patterns almost as much as making quilts.

Notice the sashing advice in this one - Color Could Be Use Here!

Speaking of Colour - check out my fabulous new ORANGE Desk!
It's pretty tricky to take photos of an orange desk:)

The orange is not quite as 70's orange as this project in one of the little booklets though. That's definitely 1978 orange.

We found this lovely in the Value Village second hand store.

I actually had to convince myself to go back and get it. Yes. I did.

$12 orange desk = SEW JOY!

The silly grin is still around a day later!

I think it will make writing posts and patterns a little more joyful:)

With Orange Joy,

Sarah Vee

100 Possibilities in One Magazine

2011-11-04T06:50:00.002-04:00

The countdown is on here, and on many other excited designers' blogs, for the next issue of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks. The blog tour starts next week. You can check out the Quilty Pleasures Blog where they will lead you around with links and have their own giveaways.
My stop is Wednesday, November 9th.

100 Blocks! All in one place! All the same size!

Now what?

I think these magazines are great resources, but to be useful resources they must be explored. The best way I can think of to explore the possibilities of 100 quilt blocks is to make quilts with them!

I love looking through these magazines and putting different blocks together to make quilt tops. Some blocks make great repeat patterns and even create secondary patterns when they repeat.

My quilt block "Joy Framed" from Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Issue 3

Lots of other blocks don't.
When I first glanced at this issue's cover, I saw MY block! My first cover photo:)

Once the squeals of JOY subsided. . .

I thought that some sashing advice would probably help a lot of quilters take the plunge and make more of the blocks.

I also noticed the white space between the blocks on the cover. It acts like sashing - framing each block to emphasize it without detracting from the blocks around it.

I think a simple sashing like this is the most common, and surely the easiest way to tackle joining different blocks in a quilt. The new Robert Kaufman roll ups make it even easier!

If simply white isn't your style - or perhaps you use lots of bright colours - try a black sashing.

A directional stripe can really add some movement to a quilt.

You could also pick a print for your sashing: pick it FIRST and select fabrics for your blocks that match the print.

I discovered that in most of my recent quilts I have not used sashing. I won't use the term "avoid" because guess what? At least 3 of the quilts I have waiting in the wings require sashing! These tops can take a bit more time to put together, especially if you design like I do - on the fly! But I also find these quilts the most rewarding because they do require me to think.

And to think outside the blocks!

What do you think?
Do you sash? Please share in the comments how you sash, if you like sashing, questions you'd like answered. I invite you to click to *follow this posts comments* at the bottom of the post you can - so we can keep the conversation going.

Squeals of JOY are good too:)

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Kids Create Joy Too

2011-10-31T10:33:00.000-04:00

BOO to You and Yours today!

We had lots of fun around here this weekend, especially carving our pumpkins last night.

My daughter worked at my sewing machine on her quilt.
You can read her post about it here.

My son, with his box and Picasso Pumpkin hat, on his way out to the garage with daddy and some paint.

Hours of Fun! And a painted box which he can fit inside of and try to scare us - if his giggles don't give him away:)

Here's a witchy quilt for today. It was made by Vickie who subscribes to my blog through Feedburner. Her completed quilt won the People's Choice Award at a quilt walk in Lynden, WA. Vickie drives truck and her email tag line is "Life Needs More Green Lights". I think Vickie needs a blog!! {wink wink nudge nudge!} Thanks for letting me share this treat, Vickie!

I'm home today and should be doing some blanket stitching.

I'll get back to it now, after I remind you that

the SALE ends tonight at my Etsy Store.

Use the code: 100sewjoyers to get 50% off my patterns.

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

State of my Sewing Space

2011-10-26T08:13:00.001-04:00

Perhaps it was the fact that I needed to iron my husband's shirts last night that I grabbed my camera first. We have been moving furniture around in our house and currently the living room that is beside my sewing space {our front entranceway!} is mostly empty. I put my ironing board up to the left of my sewing machine. Before it was hanging out in the 'doorway' between my sewing space and the living room. Ahhhhh more space!

My sewing table has also been extended by dropping the leaf on the right hand side. My filing cabinet is back to the left of my machine - with my small ironing board on top. I was finding my quilt tops to be sliding off the metal top and the ironing board is offering a bit of resistance.

This is what the table looks like to the right of my sewing machine. My Baby Basket blocks by Pat Sloan waiting to be blanket stitched. I will obviously miss her deadline to get this project into a top - but I will keep making it! The recycled strawberry containers hold 1.5 inch strips - one has dark and one has light strips.

This is what I'm sewing them into

5.5 inches unfinished log cabin blocks. It's my current leader and ender project. I am actually getting a few done as I work on my current project.

Now in the doorway between rooms - my cabinets! I had to move stuff away from my design wall because the quilt I am designing is BIG!

Whose legs are those on the storage cart?

This is my husband's skeleton that I bring into my sewing room for Halloween. Remember my front door is in this room!

See! We use this door on Halloween and then I can cover it again with another design wall. Hee Hee.

This is the wall my Follow Your Bliss wallhanging will live on. Currently the top is just pinned in posititon. Someday it will actually get finished:)

What's left? Messy photos!

This is the front closet. I store my fat quarters in hanging shoe racks. The hanging sweater racks have works in progress - or at least the ones I want to keep looking at so I get to them first! You can also see a few more shirts I need to iron. Up top are a few books I keep close for reference and newer magazines - there are shelves and totes of more downstairs. Lots of little bits of junk up top that gets chucked there until I procrastinate again and sort it. In the bins I have batting, more unfinished projects, some older fabrics I use to make Green Bag Lady bags. Boxes of buttons, Christmas fabric, scrapbooking paper, etc. The closet does have doors that close!LOL

My pile of shame beneath my cutting table. My Lady of the Lake quilt to finish. My son's Christmas quilt to quilt. Fabrics that I'm cutting into for my current project.

Thanks for indulging me in the photoshoot! I hope you enjoyed snooping around:) Here's a sneak peek at the project I am working on and the reason I needed to iron those shirts! I will be using my MistyFuse again to get all these words onto fabric. I like to iron clothe before fusibles in case of a messy iron.

Enjoy your day, I'm off to work!

Sarah Vee

Winner and a Pattern Sale!

2011-10-24T13:25:00.001-04:00

The winner of my Selvage JOY! Pillow Kit is

*lovetostitch*!

She is a fabulous quilter who I get to chat with regularly over at Pat Sloan's Quilt Mashup Forum.

I was so happy to find out so many of you have selvages and want to use them!

Sew. . .

I'm having a pattern sale!

50% off the regular price of my patterns.

That means you can get your own

Selvage JOY! Pillow cover pattern for only $2!

PLEASE NOTE: my patterns are currently only available as PDFs.

Which means you download the file I send to you in an email.

It also means you can start quilting that much faster:)

This is my Pockets of Love pillow cover.

It was previously published in The Quilt Pattern Magazine.

It uses selvages too:)

You can also find my Eat with JOY! placemat pattern on sale.

I've made it with selvages too!

I haven't made THIS one with selvages yet, but I bet you could! LOL

All patterns are 50% off until midnight EST, October 31st.

Sale is ONLY at my Etsy store.

You will need to enter this coupon code for the discount to be applied.

COUPON CODE = 100sewjoyers

Thanks again for following!

Sarah Vee

Cat Approved Quilt

2011-10-22T16:59:00.001-04:00

I recently washed my Liberated Churn Dash quilt for the first time. I was a little worried about my threads coming undone. So far it looks good.

I changed the contrast on this photo so you could see how crinkly the quilting got after the dryer. My husband thinks it shrunk - just a bit.

Mogli, my cat, thinks I should get back to other things - like making another quilt.

Or doing the laundry.

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

House Cleaning my Blog with a Giveaway

2011-10-20T08:41:00.000-04:00

I finally got all of these blocks and pieces put together. Then I rotated it when I put it back up on the design wall and really like it this way!

I needed to clear off my design wall to start this -

A Christmas quilt! This block is the middle block. It's the basket block I designed for the Layer Cake Quilt Along with one minor change. I changed the handle to have curves as I didn't have to make it out of 2 10 inch squares so I had enough fabric to make the 2 7/8 inch square.

What blocks are going around the basket? Here's a hint!

The blog tour starts November 7th and my date is November 9th. There are lots of new to me designers in this issue. I looking forward to seeing their blocks. Of course, there will be a giveaway of an issue of the magazine on my blog tour date. You don't want to miss out so you might consider following me if you don't already!

I've been tidying up my blog to get ready for the tour - kind of like cleaning the house before company comes:) I put a linkbar across the top of my blog to make it easier to click around and find my stuff. I also put the sign up box for getting my new blog posts sent to your email box directly above my posts.

What else would you change or add?

I also noticed this morning that I have reached that magic number of 100 followers!

Thank you so much for following my blog.

I really enjoy sharing my quilting adventures with you.

Let's Celebrate with a Giveaway Today!

I have one kit assembled to make my Selvage Pillow Cover. The kit includes the foundation, selvages you see in the photo above and the backing fabric {the stripe fabric on the right}

Leave me a comment on this post to win the kit AND a copy of the pattern.

For a second chance, leave me a second comment that you are a follower:)

Make sure you leave 2 comments for 2 chances!

Comments are open until Sunday night, October 23rd, 7PM EST.

I will ship internationally.

Make sure I have a way to contact you - leave an email address in your comment if you are a 'no reply' blogger!!!

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

Fall Colours for Quilts

2011-10-17T12:11:00.000-04:00

Fall has the most wonderfully inspiring colour palettes!

I realized as I was making this photo of my baked squash 'pretty' that the colours inside the squash are very similar to those outside on the trees.

The variety of green really starts to show when the trees around them change to their autumnal hues. The texture of the willow and the evergreen mixed in this one appeals to my quilter's sense of mixing size of prints as well as colours to create a pleasing palette. {don't ignore the grey and pale blue framing this shot - ideas for sashing colours, perhaps?}

Apparently, there are quite a few dilapidated garages in my neighbourhood! I love the vibrancy of the yellow against that fall blue sky. I think the neutrals of the garage would make a stunning repeat block pattern with some of the yellow and orange mixed in. Notice there is white in the photo but it's soft, like a hand dyed print. Light gray would probably add to the sparkle in the quilt.

This is a closeup of an oak tree that I cropped. I noticed how defined each leaf was as the colour changed. I'm starting to think about quilting thread now when I look at nature for inspiration. This photo suggests a very warm colour palette of fiery oranges, yellow orange and maybe even some lime green. The thin branches suggest brown quilting thread to me - maybe variegated!

I loved the clouds on this beautiful fall day. I think the fall blue makes this a very patriotic palette. Do your eyes go right to the red? Just a little can go a long way in a quilt too:)

Enjoy the colourful possibilities of Fall!

Sarah Vee

Prolific Day Off Quilting!

2011-10-13T00:00:00.000-04:00

I now understand why people take so many projects with them when they go on retreat! These three projects I tackled in the afternoon of my day off. The morning I spent making the backing for my son's Christmas quilt. I need a little more batting and then I can start quilting it.

I fused all 6 of my baskets for my newest fall project. I'm calling it Hybrid Happiness Baskets. I first wrote about it here.

After asking for suggestions and letting it sit a while longer. . . peach petals! Which is completely out of my colour comfort zone, but they look pretty cool with those blue leaves. I'm planning to blanket stitch around them with some lavender thread.

This project started during my Follow Your Bliss Makealong.

I took a chance and cut my side and corner triangles for this project. I'm not entirely thrilled with the purple corners - it's not what I envisioned. But, I will live with it as I don't have enough of the fabrics to redo it a different way.

You can read about how this project started here.

Now I am thinking of this as the Fat Quarter Tree Section of possibly a 4 section quilt of the seasons?

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

Full Harvest Moon Dreamboard

2011-10-12T07:00:00.000-04:00

This is my dreamboard. I follow Jamie Ridler and she does one of these each month. Here's a link to Jamie's dreamboard this month. I do it occasionally, although I am more likely to do it at this time of year when I love all the inspiration of the autumn colours.

I won't interpret it too much, I try just to cut and paste and reflect on one until I make a new one:)

In this one I see:

an upright bass and the words "Give Voice to Your Heart" - this is the instrument I would learn how to play if I had time

all the new furniture! we are moving stuff around at my house and I can't but think that these chairs would be really comfy in my house!

loft window and the word "when" - I am curious about what this means and will be even more curious if these views show up again.

I always have lots of words when I do these things. Words prompt me as much as pretty photos I guess.

I tack my dream board up behind my sewing machine, beneath my lovely mini quilt from Cherri House. My favourite dreaming spot.

Do you make space for your dreams?

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

Hybrid Happiness

2011-10-11T13:51:00.002-04:00

3 Basket Quilt Patterns + Fall Fabrics + Prize Incentive from Pat Sloan =

Hybrid Happiness!

Pat Sloan is hosting a sew along using her Baby Baskets pattern or one from her Novelties book. You can find out more about it here.

I'm planning to use her baskets and make 6 of them - one in each of these colours. The autumn floral is one of my favourite 'neutral' backgrounds.


Basket of Whimsey from Barbara Brandeburg's book, "Meadow Rose".

I took a photo of these prints that I plan to use to make a floating border like in Barbara's quilt.

I think my colour choices fit into the "Indiana Amish" palette that Roberta Horton describes in her book, "An Amish Adventure: A Workbook for Color in Quilts". {second edition} It's the addition of orange, yellow and yellow-green, plus tan and brown into the more 'traditional' Amish quilt colours of using the section of the colour wheel from red to green with black as the neutral.

I took all of these pictures about a month ago when the contest first started. I just happened to be rereading Roberta's book at the time and well, let's face it, Basket Whimsey has obviously been in the back of my mind since I bought the book years ago! When Pat recently extended the deadline for the project - and it just has to be a top & not finished! - I had to make a plan to act on all this basket happiness:)

I just polished off a piece of leftover Thanksgiving Cherry Pie and am set to fuse my baskets before my daughter gets home from school!

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving

2011-10-10T00:00:00.000-04:00

Here's to celebrating the harvest!

A small {15 x17 inches} wallhanging from LAST fall that I hung up by pinning some leftover ribbon to the top.

Here's to preparing for the treats yet to come!

Another project from last year that I just needed to finish some blanket stitching on.

Here's to finishing small projects and

taking small steps to get

the BIG ones finished!

I finally finished stitching the back seam for my third row of Lady of the Lake blocks. One more row is needed {whose blocks still need to be quilted and sewn to each other}

I plan to celebrate with family and a turkey dinner.

And maybe a few more small finishes while watching sports;)

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

The Quilt Is Growing

2011-10-06T07:37:00.000-04:00

The quilt is growing! Thank you for your suggestions for what to do for the borders. Turned out many of you liked this brown print. After I added the green border I laid it out and liked how it looked - now that there was some more 'green connection'.

The PLAN for this quilt for my son has grown too! We might just be receiving {if we go and pick up!} a metal bunk bed set for my son's room. With the bunk on the bottom being LARGER than a twin. . . I think it's almost a double!

The photo above shows the status of the quilt right now. I went around once with the brown stripe and discovered I had enough left to add another strip top and bottom. This really helped to stop the progression of squareness and turned it into more of a twin looking quilt. I do have more of the blue fabric and had every intention of adding more - wider on the sides and narrow on the top and bottom.

Then the quilter in me who realized it will be ME quilting this beauty through my domestic sewing machine stopped the show and said "Let's go take a look!"

The actual bed the quilt will be living on has yet to arrive. . . Next best thing? Lay it out on every OTHER bed in the house!!!!

Here's the quilt top on my son's current futon mattress. It would work as is.

This is laid out on my queen size bed. It almost completely covers the top which makes me think it's big enough as is. This little photo op made the quilting procrastinator in me think, "hey, just make it bigger for yourself and start something ELSE for him!"

Not this time, sweetie!

On my daughter's twin size bed it looks just about right. Actually the main design on the quilt hangs over the edges a bit.

Here's a view of the side. If I added a bit more blue border, then the sides of the quilt would hang farther down and perhaps, if it was a double bed, the entire top of the mattress would have quilt on it.

After playing The Three Little Bears around all the beds in the house I'm going to let it sit today. No choice really, back to work today! Not sure how quickly his new bed will arrive, but part of me is thinking long term on the sizing. While it's great if you can make a quilt to fit the exact bed it's going to live on - things change. I want this quilt to have a happy life - regardless of the bed it lives on. It should be a pleasing size for the user - who I know already will say this quilt is too BIG for him because he still likes to haul his blankie around! Too many borders will take away from the main design and will look like an afterthought.

Maybe done is done.

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

First Football Finish of the Season

2011-10-05T08:46:00.000-04:00

Even though there isn't technically Football games on Tuesday night, we watched one of the channels where you can watch all the highlight plays of the games from the past weekend. I finished sewing down the last part of the hanging sleeve last night.

This wasn't supposed to end up as a wallhanging! These are some of the Lady of the Lake blocks that some of my friends at Pat Sloan's Quilt Mashup Forum made for me to help me finish my Lady of the Lake quilt. But, because I was quite the novice quilter when I started this project {ahem. . .11 years ago!} my original blocks finished smaller than these ones. Correct seam allowances matter!!!

Here's the same photo adjusted to black and white. You can really see how value makes the design come alive. The dark on point squares in the background really make me happy. I love when a design that I've only played with on paper "works" in fabric.

For now it will hang in our dining room, directly across from my chair:) The plan is to hang it over our bed when the Lady of the Lake quilt is completed. I will have matching decor!LOL

Lots more to blog about, just not the time to blog AND quilt. The choices we must make some days, eh?! Hope you are enjoying some early Fall finishes. I was at the quilt store yesterday and the one woman who works there said she isn't sewing gifts for Christmas this year. This year it will be cookbooks for her family! I think this will keep the JOY in her quilting this season - a trend I think I'm going to follow:)

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

Progress on a Christmas Surprise

2011-09-30T09:38:00.000-04:00

It's that time of year when, in addition to all the fall cleaning, baking, new activities and homework, I decide to FOCUS on some UFOs! I have 3 that I want to have a lot of progress on before next year. The one above is one of them. It's the mystery quilt my sister's guild did in Michigan a couple of years ago. She finished and gifted two of them already! This is where mine got left off when I got distracted by something else.

It will be a surprise for my son for Christmas when the plan is to get him an actual bed, too. Right now he's on a futon on the floor. I am trying to work on this when he's not home or awake, which is a very small window of time. I get 30 to maybe 50 minutes in the morning {depending on when I work} and possibly 2 hours after work {if I have the energy and before making supper!}

This is how far I got this week! The blocks were all made, I just had to sew the blocks into rows and then sew the rows together. Then I added the first border. When I originally planned to make this quilt for him {years ago} this was the finished size. It would have been perfect then, but now this barely covers the top of a twin bed. So, I will have to add the additional border from the pattern which I didn't purchase additional fabric for!

Quick! To the Stash!

Too busy, but I like how light the fabric reads. This fabric was set aside for the backing and it still might end up that way.

Too modern, but I really like it with the quilt. I might use it for the binding.

Still not right, but I do like this fabric with the 'stripes' going this direction.

What's a quilter to do?!? I have some of the dark blue left and a very little bit of the green. I'm going to see if I can do a skinny skinny green border, maybe just on the long sides, and then make it as big as I can with the blue I have left.

Here's hoping I'll have some more progress to report next week.

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Fat Quarter Fun

2011-09-26T08:45:00.001-04:00

My design on the wall has been staring at me for just over a week.

I started out making a block to submit to Quiltmaker for another volume of 100 Blocks.
Not gonna happen next time around! I will be in the issue coming out really soon though:)

This was my original plan. Well, there was also some appliqued hearts in the middle of the block.

Then I got interested in all the variations within. When you start turning each quarter you get some interesting blocks.

I can see lots of fun possibilities with using one quarter of this block.

My dilemma? Not enough yardage around to make one quarter of this block 12 inches big!!

Maybe that's hard to believe - and maybe it isn't. If you collect fat quarters then you would know it's hard to make one big block from your selection. If you collect layer cakes and charm squares, you will have to think smaller finished size blocks to create anything - if you want to keep a specific number of fabrics/colours in your blocks. If you collect yardage, then you probably have more than enough!

I am trying to change what fabrics I collect; I want to start using more batiks and solids, and more textured fabrics like stripes. So I am trying to use up what I have while my 'design mind' is already ahead of me and wants those new fabrics, already!:)

So my dilemma and disappointment quickly turned into a new design opportunity which is now steeping on my design wall.

This is what it looks like this morning with the sun streaming in the entranceway windows hidden beneath my design wall {which is also my favourite Christmas tablecloth with flannel backing}. I am cutting my side triangles with older fabrics to make sure I have the size right before I use up my valuable and scarce solid fat quarters. I happened to pick up a guild newsletter at the quilt show I went to earlier this month which had a perfect chart of what size squares to cut to get your side and corner triangles! What a great coincidence.

I am working away at finishing some UFOs before 2012 comes around. This design will get worked on in between stitching down bindings. Eventually I may even have a tutorial for this one.

The longer I keep it up on the wall the less likely I will be to start something new.

Sound familiar?!?!

Enjoy more design walls today through the linkup at Judy's blog.

Sarah Vee

Bringing Home Inspiration

2011-09-24T07:00:00.000-04:00

I was very fortunate to attend the Hawberry Quilt Show on Manitoulin Island with my family the weekend of September 17 - 18.

No family road trip is complete without a few stops to enjoy the view. This is 10 Mile Point Lookout. My daughter read the road side plaque and I believe this was a spot where the Jesuits originally came to the island.

While there are challenges to attending a quilt show with young children, in the end the rewards outweigh any of the irritants of the day. My daughter used to go to many quilt shows with me when we lived in Southern Ontario. She loved to put on the white glove and get her picture taken in front of her favourite quilts. Here she is with her show favourite. She loves purple right now. This quilt won many ribbons for machine quilting.

This might be the first show my son remembers attending. Near the end of the day he wanted to get his photo taken with this quilt. I think it was done in the 1980's with the Disney characters appliqued on it.

I know I shouldn't be, but I always am amazed at how sensitive my children are to environmental issues. Both of them liked this quilt's message. If you look closely at the garbage, you can see bits of Tim Horton's coffee cups. Even my 4 year old son could tell me the 'message' of this quilt.

When we came home my daughter promptly dumped out all of her fabrics and began sorting them for a quilt! My son got out his container of scraps and arranged his art piece. Not wanting to eclipse this moment with my own fabric play, I pulled a cereal box out of the recycling and glued his fabrics down for him. His art is now hanging in his room, my daughter's fabrics are photographed and grouped into collections, and my heart is full!

I was very moved by seeing the Ground Zero quilt. More than I was expecting to be. I was not able to take a photograph. You can go to the website and see the quilt and read it's story there. Perhaps because it was so close to September 11th, knowing the quilt had literally just arrived from the anniversary events, made it overwhelming. The quilt itself is quite unassuming. Then I read the line, "This quilt is composed of pictures of people who died on September 11, 2001" The power of that intention radiates from this quilt.

I hope you get a chance this fall season to go out and experience a quilt show. I know many have and photos have been popping up all over blogland. I have a few more posts planned before I'm done with this show. Yes, it was that good!

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

I met Jackie White!

2011-09-22T16:03:00.002-04:00

Who is Jackie White? A fabulous Northern Ontario quilter! She was one of the main co-ordinator for the Hawberry Quilt Show Sept. 17 & 18th on Manitoulin Island. Here we are posing while my daughter snapped a photo of us in front of one of Jackie's quilts. {Jackie's on the right}

The show was very impressive and I'll share lots of photos in the next few posts. This post will feature some of Jackie's quilts. These flowers are 3 dimensional. Jackie loves to create quilts with dimensional embellishments - she is even hosting workshops!

Here's a photo I took from the side to help you see the dimensionality. This quilt, as I think most quilts, look best in person. The connection the viewer feels with the material, the size, the quilting, is lost in photography. That said, LOTS of inspiration can be experienced and new techniques or colour combinations can be introduced to the observer of quilts in photographs!

This was a larger quilt done by Jackie. The machine stitching details are amazing. I didn't even notice the cool border rainbow until I enlarged the photo! I love the shoes peeking into the bottom of the quilt. Do you see them?

Jackie has a wonderful blog where she shares lots of tutorials and her many quilts. She has also recently revealed her writerly self as she writes a humour column in The Canadian Quilter magazine. She is also part of Amanda's posse.

Jackie was the first Blogger that I've met in person. It was fun and felt like I was visiting with a friend, not a stranger.

And. . . I even bought some of her hand dyed fabric. Just a fat quarter bundle. BUT, it's a really nice start to my new ~~obsession~~ collection! I think she has plans to sell some here.

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Follow Your Bliss Continues

2011-09-20T08:56:00.000-04:00

mini bowtie mini

12x18 inches

A Follow Your Bliss Makealong Finish!
{and a birthday gift for my sister too}
It also counts for my finish for our challenge fabric project. I bought one yard of this gradated fabric {2 years ago?} and gave my sister half of it. She finished awhile ago.

Bonnie Hunter posted this tutorial with perfect timing for me:) This is my first layout once I had all of my blocks made. Here you can really see the bowties.

These blocks offer lots of design possibilities. As my blocks are all made from one fabric {see this post} I had limited combinations of pieces to make my blocks. The arrangement above shows bowties with the same background colour beside a set of four blocks with all the bowties the same colour.

With this picture super-sized {thanks to the new blogger interface that I've been forced to try!} you can see that I used a combination of both types of blocks. I think it looks like Xs and Os {hugs and kisses}. You can also see the quilting in this photo. I used a really bright Sulky variegated thread and went around the bowtie centres.

Here's the back of the quilt. A chance to use up a scrap of this funky material. And a place to put more of the bowties that I couldn't fit into my design. AND my label:)

Here are our two projects together.
Now that we've finished this challenge I guess I can go looking for that next challenge fabric!
Or maybe it's my sister's turn to provide!?!

While the "official" Follow your Bliss Makealong is finished, I have several projects that I plan to continue working on and posting progress on. Thanks to all who joined in the fun. The flickr pool will remain open for you to continue to post photos in. I hope you continue to enjoy your quilting journey!

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Joyfully Created Wedding Samplers

2011-09-15T19:14:00.000-04:00

This is a scan of a photograph. It's a wedding sampler quilt I made for my sister back in 2001. There is a crane machine stitched in that middle panel with names and a date.
I signed the label "Joyfully Created" and find that really neat! Long before I had heard of blogs {were there blogs back then?} I was using the word JOY when referring to my quiltmaking.

This is another scanned photo, this time the sampler I made for my brother. It turns out I did make log cabin blocks before! It's hard to remember that I've tried different things unless I go back once and awhile and look at some photos. This is also the first time {I think} that I appliqued letters onto a quilt. I know that the black in the centre block was my inspiration fabric. I only had a little bit of it - what you see here and some more on the label.
Not sure of the size - the quilt is draped on a living room chair in the photo so it is probably at least 30, if not 40 inches square.

This is the first wedding sampler that I made with my sister. She did the cross stitch centre panel and the names {in the bottom of the purple inner border} I hand pieced the blocks and the green border! I loved picking out all those different oranges:) This photo is only of the top. I know the bride and groom liked it because I saw it hanging in their house. This is still one of my favourites.

This was my first needle turn applique. Another sampler done with my sister. She did the cross stitch here as well. I picked out an old block I saw in a magazine and chose the colours. I chose the burgundy background fabric and was thrilled to find out later it was the bride's favourite colour.

None of these quilts live in my house, but I enjoyed making them. I found a few more old photos of quilts that I made from other people's designs - something I rarely do! I'll share those another time.

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

With or Without?

2011-09-08T07:00:00.001-04:00

Do you like it
WITH the falling petal?

Or without?

Stay tuned! I think the petals will be purple!:)

Sarah Vee

Granny's Quilted Pillow

2011-09-07T07:00:00.001-04:00

I guess a pillow cover doesn't really count as a Family Quilt. Except this one is handquilted and was made by my husband's Granny.

She made the biscuit quilt I wrote about here.

It is full of handstitches and made up of quite dated fabrics. I still have some of that brown flower print - and have a small roll of the other two flower prints.

I played with the idea of adding it to my Follow Your Bliss Joyful Girl, but I don't think it's the right spot for it.

Maybe that's part of what I like about this pillow - that I have some of the fabric to work with too.

We don't use it all the time. I think we got it from my husband's mother when she was redecorating at some point. It no longer fit in.

Do you think that will happen to the things we are making today?

That they will get traded or given away for something more fashionable?

I'm going to keep creating anyway!

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Designing With Scraps

2011-09-05T15:50:00.007-04:00

This is all I have up on my design wall this morning. I have sewn on the red stem with some variegated red thread and pinned some blue leaves in place. I think I will have to play with the flower petals before I "know" if this is how I want to place the leaves.

See that nice turquoise basket with the handle? I spent most of my quilting time over the weekend cutting up the scraps that were in it.

This is how full it was when I started! It was ready for a clean out and clean up - to make room for some more scraps:)

There were quite a few large pieces in the basket, like this pink dinosaur.

Fabric scraps this size are still useable in my books so they went back into my colour cubbies.

Here's a link to where I store fabric this size. It's an older post, but I do still use the hanging shoe racks for this size of fabric.

I'm currently cutting up scraps for 2 specific project - and another specific size.

Project 1 = I'm cutting 1.5 inch strips to make a mini log cabin quilt. It's a side project that I started during my Follow Your Bliss makealong. I now have enough strips that I can sort them in 2 strawberry containers - one dark and one light. I'm hoping to get this set up as a leader and ender project - soon!

Project 2 = A project I have actually changed my mind on but will keep cutting these specific sizes. I'm cutting 3.5 inch squares and bricks that measure 2.5 inches x 3.75 inches. The bricks are for a piano key border that I still plan to make. The squares were to be cut into half square triangles. But I don't like to trim! I just reread the quilt directions and I would have to trim down to 2.5 inch squares. So, I am probably going to use the squares and do disappearing 4 patches or 9 patches or - something else!

Specific size = 2.5 inch squares. A long time ago now I saw a watercolour quilt at Exuberant Color and commented to Wanda that I've always wanted to make a watercolour quilt but don't really have the stash for it. She suggested I simply cut squares as I make projects and eventually I would have enough. I think she's right! This is one of my stackable cucumber boxes with strawberry containers full of 2.5 inch squares {and apparently, one has scraps that I was too lazy to cut but stashed away here to cut at another time!}

Do you save scraps? How small do you go?

To check out some more design walls, visit the links at Judy's blog.

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Thinking about Quilting

2011-09-02T16:17:00.008-04:00

blue leaves for my makealong project

I've been working on stuff that doesn't make for great blog content. Unless you want to KNOW about everything I do that's quilting related:)
Like today, for instance, I put a washed orange down beside a red pepper and a green pepper and suddenly knew I need to get some cheddar fabric - soon!

Check out this link to see Kathy's cheddar in action in her mini bowties.

So this little happy accident today gave me a colour scheme for one of my next designs!

I have been bitten by the "Idea Bug" this summer. There are not enough hours in my day to get them all out, let alone made. So things get some simmer time while I think things through and see if my ideas are the best they can get. Are they all worthy of being made into quilts? Probably not!

But the ideas germinate new ones.

the red stem for my blue leaves

See those blue leaves at the top of my post? If I had made them the day I thought of them, they would have all been cut out the same size. Last night I started cutting using up stash pieces making each leaf as big as I could from each scrap. And guess what? Now my leaves will give some perspective to my flower! Now it will look like it's towering over my house and Joyful Girl. I'm happy about that:)

bowtie surprise! in progress here

I've started to discover that my designs change as I assemble the pieces. There are so many variations on traditional blocks, sometimes it feels like nothing I do is unique.

And other days that brings a very deep comfort to me. To know that women before me enjoyed this creative journey as well. That so many of the patterns and blocks that I keep coming back to, other women made quilts out of as well.

old favourites for a new design

I don't want to be in a hurry to get all of these ideas out. I want to treasure the discovery, the wait and search for the perfect fabrics, the surprise of discovering the potential of those "ugly" fabrics that sat too long and now have a chance at being in one of my quilts.

I am so inspired by the antique, traditional quilts and their quilting. I wonder about how those women made decisions in isolation, in dark log cabins, in the middle of winter under the oil lamps. I see so much similarity between these quilts and MODERN quilts that it just amazes me at how the generations continue quilting. How women continue to find a way to express their personality and creativity in a very busy world.

Check out this beautiful example of modern quilting by Tula Pink.

Here's a link to the post I did a bit ago about "Modern" Quilting.

I am amazed at how much time and effort women made into each others' quilts at quilting bees and for red cross raffles. I see the same generosity with the Alzheimer Art Quilt Initiative and quilts for Haiti and Katrina, and New York.

I feel so fortunate that I can read about their lives, see their quilts, and create my own.

Some days I think too much and run out of time to quilt!

And if you didn't know yet, The Pattern Spot is a new site affiliated with C&T Publishing where you can buy online quilt patterns. They are having a SALE this Labour Day weekend. AND, if you check it out today, you can see my placemat pattern on the front page:)

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Quilts in the House - Handquilted Love

2011-08-31T07:00:00.007-04:00

This is a continuation of posts about quilts in my house made by family.
Painted Ladies by my paternal Aunt Post is here.
Tied quilt by maternal great grandmother is here.
Biscuit quilt by my husband's maternal grandmother is here.

My posts are inspired by my sister blogging about why she quilts. You can visit her blog here.

This quilt was given to my daughter by her paternal great grandmother who made the biscuit quilt I featured in this post.

Granny didn't make it though. She bought it from one of the women who quilted in her building in St.Lambert, Quebec. It is all handquilted. I still haven't figured out how the bowties are made to get this dimensionality.

The fabric placement is planned and the fabrics themselves are fun miniature prints. They remind me of 1930s prints - little dogs, flowers, etc.

All the red fabric is the same print: the hearts, the inner border and the binding.

There are handquilted hearts in the open blue squares.

The quilt is an oversized crib - or child's lap size I guess. I tried to use it on my son's smaller futon mattress, but my daughter wouldn't let me. It is in her room.

I enjoyed going back to look at pictures of my daughter playing on this quilt before she could walk. Of course, the pictures are not digital so I don't have them on the computer. Another task for another day!

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Falling Back Into Routine - Design Wall Monday

2011-08-29T12:16:00.007-04:00

Summer is rapidly winding down here. My husband is back to school today!
As the fall schedules fill up, I find myself taking stock of all the UFOs waiting for me.
Design Wall Monday hosted by Judy at Patchwork Times is a great way to keep on track. Nothing like going back through old posts to see all those UFOs!

This past week I went back to finish up the final two blocks of the Layer Cake Quilt Along hosted by Konda at Moose on the Porch Quilts.
I want to at least get my Christmas version of this quilt assembled this year. I bought an extra jelly roll of the Prayer Flag fabric that I plan to use to make my other quilt a bit bigger. I'm thinking a piano key border. . .

This is the last block I had finished. Way back here.

Block 11 by Vanessa Wilson, The Crafty Gemini. This block is straight, it's just hanging on my design wall over top the window beneath so things float on this spot. Can you see my unplanned mistake? I'm leaving it!

This is block 12 by Joan Lucchese, the Cali Quilter.

I played with colour placement and my stripes in the Christmas version.

Also up on the design wall is my Follow Your Bliss makealong project. It's slow going right now. Hopefully I will get a chunk of time soon so I can work out the next part.

I've got big plans for this fall too. I really want to finish up my UFOs so NEXT year I can focus on quilting them. I have a couple I'd like done for Christmas and then I can work at getting some more done next year. Of course, I'm still designing new things and finding new things I want to make all the time!

Design Wall Mondays are great inspiration - to finish up and/or to start something new! Be sure to check out the great projects through the links at Judy's blog. Check out Judy's wall too:)

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Family Quilt - From HIS Side

2011-08-24T07:13:00.004-04:00

This is my third family quilt post.
Post one is here, and post two can be found here.
My family quilt posts were inspired by my sister posting about why she quilts on her blog.

This quilt is from my husband's side of the family. His maternal grandmother made it.
It is made in the style of a bisquit quilt. It's also called a "puff" quilt, but Granny lived in Quebec, so I like to use biscuit:)

It's heavy! Here is my husband wishing/hoping that I've already got a good enough picture to share.

You can see it's size and that it's quite worn. You can also guess a bit at the construction method from where it is coming apart.

Here's a view of the back. Each square is a biscuit or puff, stuffed with batting and closed. Then the puffs are stitched together into rows to make the quilt. The white fabric is very soft, the paisley is my favourite. The feel of the red and blue make me think they are cotton polyester blend. You can see some handstitching, as well as different sewing machine stitches between the puffs.

I'm not sure how my husband came to own this quilt {and he's sleeping right now, so maybe I'll edit that info in another time}, but I know he used it all through his university years. We still use it on the couch to watch TV, and it has been used for picnics and gone to music festivals.

Here you can see an 'empty' biscuit. Whether from use or just the construction method itself, many of the outer biscuits have lost their fluff. From the looks of it, Granny handbasted the biscuits closed then machine stitched them to each other. So the ones on the outside edges are not as securely stitched. I do have some of the paisley fabric - there was some in her stash that I inherited in 2002. I had plans to repair this quilt, but I just never have. It's not really 'broken' and still gets a weekly workout as a fort or castle or just a nap time blanket.

Granny was alive when my daughter was born and wanted to give her a quilt, but had stopped quilting many years before. Next time I'll show this quilt - it's hand quilted!

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

p.s. Did you vote in my poll yet? It's near the top of my sidebar. Thanks:)

Pattern Release and a Poll

2011-08-20T16:40:00.007-04:00

It's finally ready! I know I showed you the wallhanging a long time ago. No excuse, really. I felt I needed to do more with it. So, I added the tabletopper option.

I think this could work with your theme print inside the blocks OR as the main centre fabric. You could even use three fabrics!

Then, I wanted to make sure that my new directions made sense so I had the pattern tested. It was a wonderful experience for me.
Thank you, Jane!

Here's Jane's finished wallhanging

Jane is having fun working on adding Christmas embellishments to hers.
Here's a peek at her idea

I love that she put presents under all of the trees!

Right now the pattern is only available as a PDF pattern here.

What do you think? Would you like it available in 'hard copy' too?

While you're thinking I have a little poll at the top of my blog.
I'm looking for feedback as to what type of FREE Christmas project you would be interested in.
Because, well, this designer will be sharing another block with you before Christmas, and I'm not sure what type of pattern I want to make up!

Thanks for all your support:)

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Family Quilt on a Friday

2011-08-19T07:00:00.000-04:00

Can I blame my sister for missing my promise to post a family quilt on Wednesday?
Probably not!
But I can share a quilt by the same maker as the one she blogged about on Sunday.
Check it out here.

This is my quilt made by my maternal great grandmother.
It is a very simple construction made of all types of fabrics. I don't think there is any cotton on it!

Lots of the 'fuzzies' where the ties come through the quilt are missing. I remember we had at least one cat who like to play with/nibble them.
I used this quilt for a long time, and have let my daughter use it too.

This is the backing fabric. It's very soft and warm. I have always liked this side of the quilt too. It is bound with this material and I have a pillow case in the same fabric too. The binding is thinning, but still in useable condition.

It was a beautiful sunny evening when I gathered up my quilts and took them outside to photograph. See me?

My brother has a similar sized quilt, with a lot more dark colours. I remember really liking his because it had so much texture and masculine patterns {think plaids and paisleys}. I guess we should be taking photos of his quilts too!

I had forgotten that my sister had a larger quilt, and the story behind it. I hope to get a photo at my parents house soon of the quilt that they have with so many of the same fabrics as hers in it.

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Slow Summer Making

2011-08-18T10:50:00.007-04:00

You can tell it's the summertime and I have other things taking up my quilting time - like sunny days at beaches! {and working. . .}

I am still making, just slowly.
This is where my Joyful Girl ended up for a few days, with one side border and a 'rooftop'.

As she sat and stared at me and I had time to think outside {and outside of time constraints or any real expectations of what this quilt will look like when it's done}, I had a flash of inspiration. In the shower.
Maybe it was a 'splash' of inspiration!

And this is what I worked out a bit last night.

The stem is a piece of leftover bias from making a Block Lotto basket block last year. I loved those baskets!

I have a little pile of blue scraps picked out for the leaves. Now to figure out what size and how many leaves to put on. I have a plan for the petals as well. But we'll see what happens when I get back to it again. After it's simmered a bit!

I know I've been a pretty negligent leader when it's comes to the Makealong. All I can say is that when I was planning it, I had lots of time!

I don't have many links to BEADING Resources, but I do plan on using some. If you have one, please feel free to leave a link in the comments.

My girl will be wearing some pretty shoes. I am planning to use this beading tutorial by Jackie to get me started.

And it will be buttons or these colourful sequins as exclamation and "i" dots.

This is a fun idea that I won't be trying out on this quilt! I think the plastic bobbins that I have never figured out how to use would make some really neat 3 dimensional art on a quilt. You could stitch different colours through it or even add beads. I think this one makes a neat robot head!

Well, that catches me up on one of my Makealong projects. I'll post in a couple of days photos of another one that is almost complete - and it's a surprise!

It's not to late to join in the Makealong fun.
You can click on the picture of my Joyful Girl right up here ^ and catch up on the posts {or most of them!}
We even have a flickr pool where you can see how other Makers are progressing.

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Quilts in My House

2011-08-10T07:00:00.004-04:00

Painted Ladies made by my Aunt Faye {in the '80s I think}

My sister prompted this post - and a few more like it. This is something I have been meaning to do for awhile now. She posted her quilt made by my Aunt last Sunday. At the time we shared a room with twin beds so that might be the reason that both quilts have the same yellow check squares. I remember my Aunt had two with blue check squares at her house that I think featured Raggedy Ann and Andy. My brother's quilt is larger, for a double bed at least, and has black checks and painted racecars.

The ladies all face different directions and are painted quite vibrantly. I always liked this one in yellow.
This type of paint is still available! I've seen it in the Mary Maxim catalog and found it on their site here. I remember painting with these paints large colouring page like images and we had them up in our room. My mom used similar paints and made pillowcases with Sesame Street characters on them.

I'm pretty sure that I've never let my daughter use this quilt - or only briefly if I did. I had this quilt on my bed for many, many years.

The backing fabric is not cotton, a thin muslin, I think. The binding is also starting to fray and I would only replace it if I can find a similar yellow check print.

I'm not sure what quilt my sister has planned to reveal next, but I'll try and share a quilt each Wednesday this month to at least give our mom a treat twice a week!:)

I have photographs of the wedding samplers that my sister and I made together that I will try and scan to share as well. Then at least I will have all of my photos ready for when I get the Quilt Album software to permanently document these treasures.

Do you have family quilts to photograph? Take advantage of the nice sunny summer evenings to get them outside and photographed. Then thank my sister!:)

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

Finding Joy in Colourful Places

2011-08-07T15:58:00.006-04:00

Surfing around on this Sunday afternoon. . .

I found a great post by Mary Lou Weidman here about embellishing quilts.
She has a new book out too!
It's called, "Out of the Box with Easy Blocks: Fun with Free-Form Piecing"

While I'm not making a Story Quilt {yet!} her ideas and enthusiasm for colour inspire my thoughts.

This is another project I am doing as part of the Follow Your Bliss Makealong.

If you haven't peeked at the flickr pool lately, you should:) Some other makers are working on their projects and taking off on their own paths to bliss.

I also started working out some ideas for

one

project

sometimes the JOY comes from allowing the ideas to flow

Sarah Vee

Inspired to Bake - Happiness Key & Camping

2011-08-03T08:06:00.003-04:00

Camping surrounded by all the different greens of the forest is always inspiring.
We snuck away for two nights to Chutes Provincial Park. {It takes us longer to pack up than to get there!}

I even had some time to work on my Happiness Key wallhanging. I ran out of the pink floss for "Friends" and finished it at home.

We walked farther along the trail this year than last. My son turned four this summer and walked most of the 3km, then was carried most of the way back.

I read the first chapter of Emilie Richards' book, Sunset Bridge. It's the third in the Happiness Key Series. As always, it inspired some pie baking!

Peach Cream Pie.

Made with Ontario peaches.

Who knew sour cream could be so sweet!

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Joyful Girl Update - FYB Makealong

2011-07-29T08:19:00.003-04:00

I have been playing with blocks to go around my embroidered girl block.
I got stuck trying to figure out how to make this look like I thought I wanted it to look:)

Play has led to more little ideas like this -

I plan to add different stitches and maybe even some lace to this large block.
It measures 16 1/2 inches square.
It could become the front of a pillow - or maybe a little tablecloth for a magical teacup like Jackie made.

My Joyful Girl has ended up in something looking like a house!
I do want to make this into a small wallhanging, more rectangular than square.
Now I'm trying to decide on what to add to make this work.

Laura Wasilowski has a really fun blog and lots of embroidery education to share - go take a look!

I was without internet for just under a week and spent some time planning my mixed media adventure for this makealong. I'll save that for another post as I'm off to go camping this weekend and won't have much time to work on anything while I'm there.

How is your making coming along?

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Making a Mess!

2011-07-21T09:02:00.005-04:00

This is what my "making" area looks like in my sewing space today.
I had a plan for the next part after the stitchery - then changed my mind.

Part of my personal challenge for this project is to use colour combinations that I usually don't.
A quick look through my blog shows that I rarely use the three primary colours together.
When I went through my little embroidery floss stash from my husband's Granny, the red, blue and yellow jumped out at me.
One decision made:)

I also used a light blue solid for my stitching background. I decided to only use the embroidery floss from Granny as another little mini challenge within the project. The light beige for the girl's body and her brown hair were in the stash too.

I wanted to use a frame of quilt blocks around the stitchery - again something new to me, but easy. I decided on log cabin blocks with traditional red centres - to keep that primary theme going. {Can you believe in 14 years of quiltmaking, I've never made log cabin blocks?!}
I'm also trying to use up some little bits of fabric that are piled up in the basket you can see in the first photo. Surprisingly, I have enough small light scraps to make these blocks. They are going to be 4 1/2 inches unfinished.

This is where my plans changed!

Once I started building up the log cabin blocks, they didn't look like what I thought I wanted. I'm still going to make 12 of them though - maybe bring them up to 51/2 inches - and make them into their own little quilt.

The New Plan

The new plan is to keep the border simpler. I'm going to do half square triangles around the stitchery. The blue solid I used for the stitching came from a fat quarter. I should have enough to cut enough 4 7/8inch squares to make half square triangles all the way around. I will still add a skinny inch border before the blocks. I'm planning to use up red, blue and yellow scraps to make the other half of the half square triangles.

That's the plan today!

Some tips to give your plan some focus:

~Decide on a size before you start.
Or at least the end result. You can use the inspiration words ON something or use them as inspiration to make something.

Some other ideas I had include making:
a sampler quilt
apron
girl stuffie
tote bag
a donation quilt

~Keep it simple.
Don't try a whole bunch of new things. Pick a new colour to play with and a new technique. Or get out a quilt pattern that you love and have never made time to make.
This is supposed to be fun - don't set yourself up for failure:)

How is your making coming along?

Leave a comment here with a link to your blog so we can visit:)

You could also add photos to the Follow Your Bliss Makealong flickr pool.

Remember there is a blog roll in my sidebar of Follow Your Bliss Makers. Email or leave a comment if you would like me to add you to it.

Are you simply enjoying the making from the sidelines? If you decided to sit this one out, please let me know if you are enjoying what you see! I'd love to answer questions or find out what you are doing instead:)

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Follow Your Bliss Makealong - Inspiration Words

2011-07-17T14:38:00.005-04:00

Ready, Set, Stitch!

Welcome to the beginning of the Follow Your Bliss Makealong!

I hope you enjoy the journey. Use what you want, share what you make, check out what other people create too.

To start I have put up the Inspiration Words. You can print them out right from this post. They are all the way at the bottom:)
Click on the image and it should take you into the document where you can then select to print it.

My Follow Your Bliss Making #1

I traced the words onto a 10 x 10 piece of light blue cotton fabric and used some of Granny's embroidery floss to stitch the words.

You can stitch the words too or use them to inspire another creation.
{My second makealong piece will use these words cut out of fabric on a larger wallhanging.}

**If you want to makealong with me and not do the embroidery, you can use a 12 inch quilt block in place of the stitching panel. I will be adding a small border, then some quilt blocks around it next**

If you are new to embroidery, have no fear! There are lots of resources out there to help you make pretty stitches. For these words, I used a very common/popular/simple stitch called the Stem Stitch. I was introduced to it with Pat Sloan's Happiness Key Mystery quilt. {Which I'm not done stitching yet!}

Here are 3 links to embroidery stitches for you:

Pat Sloan's Stem Stitch video

Bari J.'s newest blog, we love french knots, where she is starting to show how-to videos for different stitches

Sharon Boggon's stitch dictionary

Please feel free to add more links in the comments if you have a favourite embroidery blog or video to share.

If you have any problems downloading the pdf, send me an email and I will try and help:)

If you would like me to add your blog to the Follow Your Bliss blog roll in my sidebar, simply leave a comment or email me with your main blog address.

If you don't have a blog, please feel free to email me photos of your makings and I will post them here.

You can load pictures of your treasures and process pictures to the Follow Your Bliss flickr pool.

I will share more of my process this week and host a linkup too.

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Follow Your Bliss: Find Your Treasures!

2011-07-13T11:48:00.004-04:00

The Follow Your Bliss Makealong "officially" starts on Monday, July 18.
BUT, since I have some things to show you and I've left you hanging for a bit, I thought I'd start you off on the adventure a little early. Besides, this part might take you the most time!

Official Like Details

The Makealong is open to any and all who would like to participate - in any way you would like to!

I will reveal the inspiration quote and the beginning of my first project on Monday.

I have several options in mind, plus you're welcome to go your own way completely.

I will host blog posts and links and such from July 18 to September 18.

There is a flickr pool to post photos in to share, ask advice and showcase your makings.
There will be blog posts along the way with linkups too.

AND I'm starting the blog roll TODAY in my sidebar.

If you are making along with me, please feel free to leave me a comment or email with your main blog address. It would be helpful to label any of your makealong posts with "FYB makealong" so people who visit can search your blog for these posts and leave comments!

Your first assignment is to

Gather your Treasures!

Go through your stash, sewing room, basement, attic, etc. to find embellishments like beads, lace, trim, ric rac, fabric, photos, that you have been keeping and not making anything with.
You don't need to use ALL of these things, but have them close by in case you are inspired to use them.

I'm using lots of little things that I've been finding as I look through my sewing space nooks.

The photos throughout this post are of some of my treasures I have uncovered so far.

On Monday I will reveal my inspiration quote and set you off on your second assignment -
Explore Some Techniques!

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

p.s. while the main goal of the makealong is TO MAKE, if you would like to host a treasure giveaway or have a technique tutorial you'd like to blog for the makealong crew, send me an email at SarahVee @ sewJOYcreations.com
and thanks for sharing!

A Birthday Pillowcase

2011-07-05T18:54:00.003-04:00

Another niece, another birthday!
This time I made a pillowcase.

I used the piano key band free pattern from American Patchwork and Quilting's 1 million pillowcase challenge. Click on this link to the free pattern page. To find out more, here is the link to the main info page.

Each side of the pillowcase uses a different print.
My mom gave me this animal fabric from her stash. She doesn't even sew anymore!
Then I pulled strips from my stash that I thought went well with it. I had some leftover of the yellow print and I used strips of it to unify the border.

This photo was 'key' {pardon the pun!} to my piecing success. I laid out my strips in the order I wanted and took the photo. I referred back to it several times as I sewed the strips together to keep them in this order.
{I think I ended up pulling that really bright pink and sewing 2 yellow strips beside each other, but that was a design change because I had to cut my pillow to the size of my fabric pieces and used a 1/4 inch seam allowance so my band was initially too long.}

Happy 3rd Birthday, Niece #4!

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

A Blog Break

2011-07-02T20:56:00.008-04:00

I've been taking a bit of a blog break. Actually when I went to type the title I spelled it "brake" and that would be accurate as well! Life is busy outside of blogland - who knew;)

I am still working away at my Lady of the Lake quilt. My header photo is from two years ago when I laid out my blocks across my bed! I'm much farther along now and did a big sprint last night. I'm not sure I will make my July 6 deadline, but I'm hopeful! My biggest mental stumbling block right now is trying to decide what to use for binding.
My biggest Physical stumbling block is exhaustion after working outside the home and then INSIDE the home when I'm done! I know you know what I mean!

My mom knows me pretty well, don't you think? I love both of these almost equally! One is a package of BRIGHT paisley napkins and the other - a layer cake of Wildflower Serenade. Thanks, mom - I have plans for both!

Don't you LOVE plans? I keep making them and the more I'm at my machine quilting, the more I make!

I haven't forgot about the quilt along. In fact, I've given it a name:

Follow Your Bliss Make Along

I'm gonna say it's a 3 month adventure - July 18 to September 18.
I'm planning a blog roll of participants, so if you know you want to join me, let me know through email or a comment and leave me a link to your blog.

Stay tuned for more from me next week!

Enjoy the Long Weekend!
Happy Canada Day AND Fourth of July!

Sarah Vee

Happiness KEY Lime Pie

2011-06-26T07:50:00.006-04:00

I am having so much fun with Pat Sloan's and Emilie Richards' Happpiness Key Mystery.

Especially now that I've made a key lime pie!

There is a group of dedicated "Sloanies" working on this project together. We share stories and especially stories about pie. One of the characters in Emilie's books is slightly obsessed with pie, too.

Every month Pat gives a photo challenge to go with the quilt. This month was to take a photo of yourself with a dessert. You can see our projects and desserts at the flickr group here.

One of the ladies on Pat's forum LOVES Key Lime Pie. I think she eats it once a day!?!?
I took on the challenge to find key lime pie. Pretty tricky up here in the northern parts of Ontario.
Then I saw some frozen ones.
Then I decided to make my own.

Finally we have key limes in the grocery store. They're really tiny!

One trip around the internet for this recipe and BAM!

Here's a slice of my Key Lime Pie. On one of my placemats:)

Here's an action shot of me releasing a slice from the pie. {My crust is a little crunchy}

Here's me, trying to show the piece of pie on my plate - and catch it as it started to slide off!

Nothing like friends and pie, I say!

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

WOW! Wading into a Quilt Along

2011-06-24T16:53:00.006-04:00

I'm so glad you want to quilt along with me!

Maybe you'll change your mind[s] when you
understand better what I'm planning

Nothing is finalized in my head yet, no dates either{remember, I HAVE to finish THIS first}, BUT, I thought I would let you in on my idea now and see if we can make it better together!

First, I am not thinking traditional quilt along - where I have a pattern all made up and we do it step by step together.

road sign by Eli Kalaani

I'm thinking we all start at the same place and see where we each want to go from there.

Never fear!
I have many {many} ideas to share and will share pretty much step by step for at least 3 different versions of the project I have in mind. {maybe more by the time we actually start!} You can finish in a weekend, make more than one, or take your time.

Second, it's more about going on a Creative Treasure Hunt into techniques and embellishments and media that you may not have gone exploring - if you weren't with your friends!

Intrigued?

Here are two different projects I've done in this manner - sort of. I played it pretty safe:)

First, with Cherri House's Little Bouquet Quilt Along.
Still looks like a quilt, but I had freedom in size and quilting and design.
I made it for my sister's 30th birthday and was able to include 30 flowers.
Joy all around! Check out the group flickr pool here.

Second, I felt a little more *artsy* and joined a Make Along.
All different kind of makers using different mediums created something inspired by a poem.

Still looks like quilting/sewing. A little bit more risky with no pattern or ideas to go on.
Really fun and nobody's project looks the same:) Check out the flickr pool here.
Here's how it was introduced.

Somewhere between these two ideas I see my Quilt Along.
{Maybe it needs a better/different name too?}

I already have a phrase to use for inspiration - or directly on the quilt.
I already have 3 ideas for size, layout and design.
I have links for different techniques and quilts for inspiration too.

I want to go on a Creative Treasure Hunt!

This is where I want to grow as a quiltmaker/artist - wait and listen for what else a design wants. I tend to rush this part - get-it-done instead of creating to the end.

Think embellishing with something new - or simply embellishing for the first time.
Embroidery stitches, pieced words, fused words. Beads, free motion quilting, adding other media.
Designing on the fly!

Are you still interested?
Do you have a Creative Technique we could try out on our Expedition?

I would love to be the leader down this path, but it's much more fun to travel in a group!

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

Drowning in my Lady of the Lake - Quilt Along, Anyone?

2011-06-23T19:08:00.006-04:00

Okay, maybe I shouldn't be so dramatic. I am so close to a finish.
Some of my friends over at Pat Sloan's Quilt Mashup Forum even made blocks for me.

Enough that I will have another row in my quilt.

Enough so that I didn't have to do much at all to get this 11 year project that much closer to completion.

Enough so that I only had to make a few half square triangles to put this set of blocks together.
And that's it!

I have one more set of blocks to put together.

I have 2 rows of panels completely quilted and joined together.

A third is almost ready. The fourth is almost ready to be basted. The fifth is waiting in the wings.

I am cheering myself on with this post.
So many ideas are trying not so patiently to take me away from this project - again.

I am seriously thinking about a QUILT ALONG
- almost a challenge/artsy quilt along.

{My idea machine has tentatively called it My Hurry UP and WAIT Quilt Along. ahem}

But-the-ideas-are- flowing-so-fast-that- I -have-nothing- to-really-show-you.
I just wanted to tell you that I'm excited about it!

Would you Join Me?
Wanna Know More?

Leave me a comment and we'll see how quickly I can get this
Lady Quilted and on to
the Next Joyful Adventure:)

Sarah Vee