I am now in Maine.  The weather is about two weeks behind New Hampshire and it is cold.  I’m thankful for the wood stove which is slowly warming up the house.  Somehow a house that has been closed up seems colder for a while.

The daffodils that are by the road have gone by, but the ones in the front yard waited for me to come up.  They are a beautiful sign of spring.  The gardens need a lot of cleaning out but that can wait until it is warmer,

Of course, the dandelions are in full bloom as are the forsythia.

Before I came to Maine, I went to a Quilt Guild retreat.  It was wonderful to just sew and not think about cooking or cleaning. I pieced 80 blocks for a shadow quilt,  I had already cut the pieces at home. Eighty blocks sounds like a lot but there were only a few seams in each block and it was all straight sewing. They are all in order by my sewing machine.  I will start sewing them together as soon as the house is in order.   Miss Molly went to her favorite spa and had her first grooming of the Spring.  She is beautiful.  She loves to go to the kennel and isn’t very interested in going home.

I haven’t finished anything recently, but have brought a lot of projects to Maine to work on.  Maybe I can finish them here.  At least that is my plan for now.

I have no new work to show.  I was looking through my photos and found pictures of a few sampler quilts.  They are fun to make.  Each one is different.

     

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

It’s May and Annie Louise need a new outfit.  This month, the inspiration comes from my great, great, great grandmother.  She actually lived, at one time, in the city where I now live.  I have seen her house which was within walking distance to her husband’s job.  He was superintendent of the sewer department.  The city has recently pulled up and replaced the sewer lines that he installed in the late 1800s.

Annie Louise has a black cape that is trimmed with fur.  It is lined with a red lining.

 

Annie Louise’s quilt is back from the quilt show.  Usually a dress is made and then a quilt is made from the scraps.  This quilt was different.  The quilt was made first.  It was a Guild challenge.  Then there was a lot of the blue fabric left over so Annie Louise has a house dress.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

This third installment about the Mile A Minute block is tips that I’ve learned along the way. This past week, I’ve taken all the Mile A Minute partially finished blocks and started to finish them.  So far I have over a dozen blocks made and there will be lots more to make with the remainder of the bag.  I used a 6″ ruler.  After I make enough 6″ blocks for a quilt I make different cuts.  Maybe even triangles to make star points or a flying geese.

TIPS:

If the scrap is uneven, place it right side up on the bed of the machine and place a straight strip on top right side down.  Tuck additional scraps under strip and sew to the end.

Uneven seam allowances do not have to be cut off, unless you really want to.

If two pieces have jagged edges. Place the right sides together and rotary cut a straight line.

Oops things.  Not sewing a straight line.  Sewing with right sides not together.  Never pull out stitches,  Just cut with a rotary cutter and ruler and correct the oops.  There are no mistakes in the Mile A Minute, Just oops.

Use steam to flatten pieces.  If the piece does not lay flat, cut with the rotary cutter and ruler  and sew again.  Keep your square ruler on the ironing board when pressing to quickly measure the block to see if it is big enough.

Stack pieces according to size.  When two  pieces are the same size, sew those two pieces together.  I do this while watching TV.  It doesn’t take much thinking.  The seams do not have to match.   If the edges don’t exactly match, cut with a rotary cutter and ruler for a straight line.  If two pieces are the same size, they can be sewn on opposite side of a strip.

Check magazines and books for patterns that can use the Mile A Minute block and cut the made fabric the size needed.  Look for square in a square, flying geese, half square triangles, etc.

Choose sashing and borders after the block is made.  The color that you choose will determine the color of the quilt.  The sashing color will pick up it’s color from the block.

     

The size of the quilt is determined by the number of blocks made and the setting of the blocks.

When your mind can’t concentrate on accurate piecing and matching corners, this is the block to make.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Continuing on from the last post where you sewed pieces to strips, pressed them to one side and cut between the pieces.  This is called a twosie. Now you place another strip on the sewing machine, right side up.  Add the twosie, right sides together and sew, making another big pile.  It doesn’t matter which way you sew the twosie to the strip.  Then, as before, press to one side and then cut apart. This is a “threesie”.  Continue adding the twosies and threesies to strips until you have a big pile of moresies.  Don’t worry about matching seams.  They are not matched in this block.  If the twosies or threesies are the same size, you can sew them together with a strip in between them.

When the block is big enough, place the square ruler ( 6″ or 6 1/2″) on the piece at an angle.  Always use the same size ruler for each project.  Move the ruler around so that the corners don’t come at a seam.  Rotary cut the block.  Every block will be exactly the same size.  Continue until you have enough blocks for your quilt.  Remember, most of the edges will be on the bias, so handle carefully. The bias edges will be taken care of when you add the sashing.

Arrange the blocks on a design wall, making sure that the colors are distributed equally.

Cut the sashing strips the length of your ruler and either 1 1/2′ or 2 1/2″ wide.  The choice is yours.  Also cut corner blocks.  Sew the sashing strips to the block with the block on the bottom.  Hold the beginning and end of the seam and let the feed dogs do their work to make the bias edges fit the sashing.  Note the above picture to see how to place the block in the sashing and corner squares.

Add a 4″ to 6″ border.  If the quilt is large you can add a 1″ border, a 3″ mile a minute border” and  a 4″ border for a total of 8″ on each side.

To make the 3″ mile a minute border, piece together mile a minute scraps.  You can incorporate the cut off pieces form the blocks.  Cut the pieces 3 1/2″ wide.   Square off the ends and add the pieces  together until you have strips long enough for the quilt sides.

The quilt should be machine quilted or tied.  There are too many layers for hand quilting.  This block can be used in any other quilt block pattern that has a 6″ section.  It is very nice when used in a stripy quilt  Just add one block on top of the other for some of the strips.

I will continue with more tips for the Mile A Minute block in the next post.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

 

 

The Mile A Minute quilt is basically a free quilt.  It is a fun quilt block with no stress. You can not make a mistake.  It uses left over scraps no larger than 4″.  Also, strips that don’t have to be straight.  They could be the piece cut off to straighten up an edge.  Leftover thread and bobbins are used.  The color doesn’t matter.  It is a great way to empty  partially filled bobbins.  Other than the above supplies, you will need a sewing machine, a rotary cutter with a new blade, a cutting mat, scissors, and a square rotary cutting ruler.  The ruler can be 6″ or 6 1/2″.   I have seen one made with an 8″ ruler, but I prefer the smaller ones.

Place all the fabric into two bags, one for pieces and the other for strips.  The fabric does not have to be color coordinated, unless you want it to be.  It looks more old fashioned if it is not color coordinated.  A block made with thirties fabric is beautiful  Also, one made with batiques.

Place one bag on the right and the other on the left.   Without peeking, pick up a strip and place it on the machine right side up.  Then, without peeking, pick up a scrap and place it on the strip with right sides together.  Sew with a 1/4″ seam.  You could sew with the edge of the presser foot.  The seam does not have to be size accurate, but it must be straight,  Pick up another scrap, butt it to the first one and sew.  If you sew a crooked seam, do not pick it out.  Simply lay the piece on the cutting board, cut it straight and sew again.  If the strip is straight and the piece is crooked, the strip can be on the top.  That is an easier way to sew a straight line.

There is only one rule in making this block.  You are not allowed to throw a scrap back.  You must use what you picked up unless it is the same fabric as the strip.

Continue adding scraps to strips until you have a big pile behind the sewing machine.  Press strips to one side.  It doesn’t matter which side.  Pressing is important. It keeps the blocks straight.  Cut between the scraps.  You can use a rotary cutter or scissors.

More instructions and other tips will continue on the next blog.

     

Have a great day and happy sewing.

There is a large basket near the cutting table.  Any fabric scraps that are cut off are thrown into the basket.  The basket can’t be seen from where I stand and cut. The other day, I looked at it and it was overflowing all over the floor.

It was time to sort the scraps and make them ready for a Mile A minute Quilt.  I divided the strips and pieces into two piles.  Any pieces that were too small were placed in a separate pile.  I found lots of Mile A Minute blocks that were partially made.   They went into another pile.

The basket with just the pieces, after the strips, small pieces, and partially sewn Mile A Minute blocks were removed.

 

Strips   

Partially sewn blocks

small pieces  

The small scraps were in a trash bag in the waste basket when I remembered that I still have 20 Gaa-Barge art quilts to make.  They were retrieved.  I should be able to make all 20 little quilts from this pile.

There are still two large bins of scraps in the attic.  They need to be divided.  It’s fortunate that I’m teaching a Mile A Minute class next fall.  I can provide all the fabric for the class and then start again.

In the meantime, I’ll finish the partially sewn blocks.  Once they are in a quilt, they will be examples for the class.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I’ve been working on Dear Jane off and on the past few weeks.  They are just the right size to take when I need handwork at a meeting. I have several others in various stages and will work on them so that I have a constant supply of hand work.  There is just one more to make to complete row D.  Rows A and B have been printed.  I try to keep the fabric somewhat like the original.  I will have to check the quilt shop for fat quarters to get the right look.

I have finished four more.  They are hand quilted but still need binding,  Tomorrow, I will sew the binding on and then they will go into the hand sewing basket to be finished.

 

 

 

 

I have finished 58 blocks.  It seems like a lot but there are 169 blocks in the center of the quilt.  Then there are triangles for the outside row.  I haven’t even looked at the patterns for the outside row.

I never intended to make a Dear Jane quilt when I attended the meeting.  Now, I’m glad that I started.  It is addictive.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

After making 32 of the 52 Garbage to Gaa-Barge art quilts, I started making Landscape Gaa-Barge.  The Garbage to Gaa-Barge pieces were made from scraps that were left over from projects and anything that I swept off the floor or found in a wastebasket.  Most pieces were small, but some were larger.  I had intended to make one a week for a year, but was side tracked when gardening season came. One of the last pieces became an imaginary underwater scene.  It was so much fun making that little piece.

Then I thought that I could make scenes using a picture for a pattern.  The first two were not very good, but I soon figured out how to do it and the art quilts were much better.  I even taught classes in Landscape Gaa-Barge.  The students made awesome landscapes.

The pieces are 8″ x 11″.  That size is easy to work with.  A photo, which is used for the pattern,  can be enlarged on a home copy machine. Tulle  is placed over the small scraps and then the piece is thread painted to hold everything down.  Either a large or a small binding finishes the piece.

The fabric pictures are memories of places where I have been.

My parents, my husband and I went on a trip to Cape Cod.  While there, I took a picture of Cape Cod Bay and the dunes.  When I make the fabric picture two small pieces of thread were left under the tulle.  I left them there because they looked like birds in the air.  A happy accident.

This is a picture of the White Mountains in New Hampshire.  We had many trips up North.

We fished many ponds and lakes, but one time we went up the Merrimack River.  It was a beautiful ride. This bend of the river was very pretty.  We didn’t catch any fish, but if we did, we would have let them go.  Even though the Merrimack is cleaned up, I can still remember when it was polluted.

 

 

 

For several years, we spent a week in Bradenton, Florida.  Our motel was close to the beach and we walked the beach every day looking for shells. There was a restaurant close by and we were walking there the day that I saw this clump of grass.

Before we retired, we spent every Memorial Day and Labor Day at a cabin in Pittsburg, New Hampshire.  The fishing was great and we went looking for moose every evening.  They were by the side of the road every dusk.  This was the scene across the road from our cabin.

This last one doesn’t have a picture with it.  I probably had one at the time that I made the picture.  This is the scene from my porch in Maine.  The road goes from left to right at the top of the picture.  My neighbors driveway is across the field just beyond the row of trees.  There are gardens on both sides of the white picket fence.  It must be fall, because the flowers are perennial Maximillian Sunflowers.

I should make some more memory Landscape Gaa-Barge pieces and finish the regular Garbage to Gaa-Barge project.  Only twenty more to go,.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Annie Louise needed a new outfit for April.  Looking through the pictures of my ancestors for inspiration, I decided to make a white blouse and a black skirt.

 

 

My Grandmother, Grandfather and Uncle are in this picture.  My Mother was yet to be born.

 

 

 

I found it hard to sew the little pieces in the blouse, but it came out fine and fits her.  The skirt was much easier.  The skirt pattern had gathers, but I made pleats because my Grandmother’s skirt was straight.

Annie Louise looks very elegant in her new skirt and blouse.  It will be her shopping outfit.  She already has a housedress, a white fancy dress for a party and an older dress for cleaning house.

 

 

Annie Louise’s quilt is hanging at the quilt show.  When I get it back, I’ll take a picture of Annie Louise and her quilt.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

 

Many presser feet come as stock items with a sewing machine.  For some unknown reason, most of them are not used.  Every once in a while I find a presser foot that I must have, only to put it away and not use it.  I have had the border guide foot for a long time and it was still in the package.

This week, I needed to quilt fabric for a project. I remembered the foot and decided to do some channel  quilting.  The foot was perfect for this. I channel quilted sixteen pieces using the outside red line.  Every line was perfect in all the pieces. As I looked at the foot I found many more ways to use it.

 

 

I needed to top stitch a band on the top of the quilted fabric.  With the red center line on the edge of the band and the needle moved to the right a little, I was able to perfectly top stitch.

 

 

The pattern called for 1/2″ seams.  The first red line is exactly 1.2″ away from the center.  Placing the line on the edge of the fabric gave me a perfect 1/2″ seam.

 

 

Alternating the red lines will give a different look to channel quilting.

 

 

 

This foot can be used when sewing  several lines of a built in embroidery.  The lines will be perfectly even.  Putting the red horizontal line on the first stitch of the completed line will line up the pattern.

There are probably more uses for this foot.  I’ll have to check the Janome web site to find other things to do with it.

I have several other presser feet that are still in their packages and others that came with the machine that I have never used.  I should take the time to find out what each foot can do.  Sewing would be so easy when using the right presser foot for a job.

Have a great day and happy quilting.