"Blogging for Bliss" and Let's Build a Snowman

I really enjoy blogging. I guess I'm not very talkative in person, but I have a lot to say. I've enjoyed pushing myself in the last year and a half to learn new things--uploading pictures, linking, making slideshows, etc. But I'm wanting to learn more. So on Friday, I discovered the book Blogging for Bliss, by Tara Frey, on Amazon, available Aug. 4. I surfed over to Tara's blog and found out that it was already out. I found out my B&N had a copy and zoomed over to get it. I read it cover to cover in a few hours. WOW! It's a great book with lots of information that I was looking for. Seven chapters of info are interspersed with descriptions of other blogs and their creative owners...and these bloggers reference their favoite blogs. I'm now going page by page to see these blogs. What a treasure! If you enjoy blogging or reading blogs, check it out--Blogging for Bliss. Let me know what you think.

I promised you a sneak peek of our newest pattern. It is the cutest snowman quilt ever--and you don't need to get wet and cold to build it. If you start it now you will have it ready just in time for colder weather.

Isn't it great? Makes me smile every time I see it, but then, I'm not the one who had to kit it. Let's Build a Snowman will be available in 3 different ways--a complete kit for the top, a Row of the Month option, and pattern only. Click here for more information. I will be posting tips on the blog to go along with the Row of the Month (similar to Happy Halloween entries). I can't wait to get started.

Well, I'm off to make dinner, a little more blog surfing and looking into classes for photography and html!

Happy surfing to you, too!

Lynda

Rocky Mountain Quilt Fever-A Celebration of Stars

Yeah! It's almost time for the Denver area's 10th shop hop--A Celebration of Stars--to honor our customers, who truly are our stars. To make it extra special we designed a gorgeous batik with columbines, aspen leaves, pinecones, and pine needles.

Each shop chose a star pattern and then the blocks were set into a giant Rolling Star, that features the specially designed fabric. The hoppers will buy kits to make up the Rolling Star portion of the quilt and then each of the participating 8 stores designed different finishing kits. This is our (Great American Quilt Factory's) quilt. It finishes to approx. 77' square. It is beautiful!

We also have 5 additional colorways of the featured fabric. These fabrics are exclusive to our shops.

Rocky Mountain Quilt Fever Shop Hop is August 7, 8, and 9th. See more information and download the passport on our website.

We hope to see you hopping,
Lynda and Nancy

Artifacts by Possibilities for Quilting Treasures

Our new fabric line from Quilting Treasures is now in stores. Artifacts features soft, stylized imagery reminiscent of native motifs in soothing colors of turquoise, green, lavender and purple. This beautiful, sophisticated group lends itself to art-to-wear as well as accessories and quilts.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We think it is a very beautiful line and can't wait to share some projects with you!
Happy Stitching,
Lynda and Nancy

American White Pelicans

It has only been the last few years that I have seen white pelicans in the Denver area. They arrive in late Spring and stay for awhile before heading North. I saw this flock a month or so ago. They are huge with incredible wing spans. I think they are terrific!

They reminded me of this poem, possibly by Ogden Nash or Dixon Lanier Merritt--there is some dispute.

A wonderful bird is a pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belican.
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week;
But I'm damned if I see how the helican.

Have a great day!

Lynda

Happy Halloween Blog of the Month-Part 4

Hello again, Halloween friends,

I'm sorry that I'm a bit late this month in posting the blog, but June went by soooo fast! June is the end of our fiscal year here at Great American Quilt Factory (which means lots of extra bookwork and inventory counting) and we've been blessed with having our son Barry and his two great kids, Ellen and Neil, visiting for a couple of weeks.

Well, we're on month 4 and October is just 3 months away. I hope you are able to keep up, but if not, these lessons will be here for a long, long, time. Just click on the Halloween Blog of the Month icon on the right side of the blog and bring up all of the lessons. You will find them in the newest to oldest order, so scroll down to the first lesson you missed and work up from there.

Our three applique blocks this month are Death, Cat, and Werewolf. I, once again, sprayed and ironed the background fabrics with spray starch to stiffen them so they would act as a stabilizer. I used my lined white fabric for all of the eyes, teeth, white collars, and scythe blade. If werewolf's face is much lighter than his hair, you might need to line it also.

Again, build small sections on your Applique Presser Sheet before combining the pieces together. For Death, build 2 sections: eyes, eyelids, nose, and hood, face, cloak. After fusing these sections together, use the placement guide to fuse them into place. Mark all detail lines. I used my Sewline black pencil and a sunny window to see the lines. Fuse Death to the 2nd to the lightest background.

For Cat, build 2 sections: eyes, eyelids, nose, and shirt, collar, BOO. After fusing the sections together, use the placement guide to fuse them into place. Mark the detail lines. (The yellow or white Sewline pencil or refills are perfect for marking Cat's mouth and whiskers.) Fuse Cat to the 2nd to the darkest background.

For Werewolf, build 3 sections: eyes, eyelids, nose, and shirt, collar, tie, and face, hair, ears. Mark the detail lines and fuse Werewolf to the lightest background.

For the stitching, I started with Death, the easiest. The stitching order I used for Death:

1. Inside of hood
2. Outside of hood
3. Right and left collar
4. Scythe blade
5. Scythe handle
6. Eyes, eyelids
7. Nose

Each eye, eyelid, and nose combination seems to need a little different treatment. Trace the stitching path with your finger to see what works best. For example, for Death, I stitched his left eye first, from the top of the lid around to the nose. Next, I stitched his right eye from the right side of his nose, across the lid and down to the top of his nose. The bottom edge of his eyelids came next, and finally his nose.

The stitching order I used for Cat:

1. Shoulders
2. Arms
3. Left and right side of head
4. Collar
5. Eyes and eyelids
6. Nose
7. 2nd "O"
8. 1st "O"
9. "B"

For Cat's eyes and nose, I stitched them in the same order as Death's.

Werewolf was my most challenging block yet. He is not that hard, but I seemed to forget everything I have learned so far--just so you know, you will never see the backside of this block. : )

Here is my stitching order:

1. Right and left ear
2. Face
3. Hair
4. Shirt
5. Collar
6. Tie
7. Eyes and eyelids
8. Nose
9. Teeth

For the eye section, I first stitched the inner side of his right eyeball, and then from the right side of his nose around the right eyelid. I then stitched his left eye from the top of his nose around to the left side of his nose. Next, the bottom of the eyelid, and finally his nose.

**As I was explaining this I realized that I stitched his eyes just opposite from the pattern--just goes to show you that there is more than one way to do anything. : )**

There are at least two ways to stitch the detail lines. For the heavier lines, such as the mouths, I'm going to use a very tiny, very close zigzag stitch. I would suggest that you put together some practice squares that are similar to your block--two layers of fabric with or without the fusible in between (since I cut away most of the fusible, I folded a square of fabric together and ironed it with several coats of spray starch, like I do for my backgrounds). I experimented on a scrap of fabric until I had a stitch that I liked. Choose the zigzag stitch on your machine, needle down position if you have one, and have the same thread on the top and in the bobbin.

The settings on my Bernina that worked best was with the zigzag slightly less than 1 and the stitch length just 2-3 bars above zero. This made a stitch that was no wider than 1/16 or about the width you get with a chalk pencil. Stitch steadily, but not too fast. As you go around curves, pivot on the outside edge of the curve so that you don't get gaps in the stitching. Make sure that you have enough thread in the top and bottom so that you don't run out--it is very hard to match your previous stitching--guess how I know?

Some of the detail lines are not as bold as the mouth stitching, such as Witch's scar and Mummy's bandages. For these lines, use a regular straight stitch and stitch across the same lines 2 times. This takes some practice and a steady stitch. See the right side of my practice piece.

Below is a closeup of Werewolf's mouth.

If you are not happy with your practice stitches, you can always hand embroider the detail lines.

Yeah! We are coming right along. Next month we will work on the last applique block--Mummy and applique the Happy Halloween panel. Have you chosen your backing fabric? We have a terrific selection of Halloween fabric in the store and some of it is online.

Please comment if you are enjoying this blog of the month concept and/or if you have any questions or ideas for another blog of the month. I am really enjoying bringing it to you.

Nancy and I leave Tuesday to teach and lecture at two guilds in Southern California. We plan on visiting some quilt shops along the way. I plan on bringing you more inspiration.

Happy stitching,

Lynda

Can memory loss be prevented?

This is a great article on helping to prevent memory loss! As we all know, sewing and quilting are very therapeutic and now we know that it is also great for the brain! Enjoy the article and please comment to let us know what you think.

http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/can-dementia-be-prevented/?em

Happy Halloween Blog of the Month, part 3b

OK, now on to the stitching. Mr. Pumpkinhead has the most intricate stitching so far, but no worries, I'll lead you through. Let's start with Witch.

The stitching order I used for Witch:

1. Top of hat
2. Top edge of hat brim
3. Hat band
4. Hair*
5. Head
6. Shirt
7. Eyes and eyelids**
8. Nose
9. Bat (I used a shorter, narrower stitch for the bat)

*I decreased the width of the zig-zag stitch as I stitched the points of her hair. As you get closer to the point, decrease the stitch width one point, stitch a few stitches, decrease the width another point, stitch a few stitches. After finishing the point, start increasing the width a point at a time until you are back to your regular width. I hope you can see this on this close-up.

Each eye, eyelid, and nose combination seems to need a little different treatment. Trace the stitching path with your finger to see what works best. For example, for the witch I stitched the bottom of her left eye first. I then stitched her right eye from her nose, around the lid and back down to the nose. Lastly, I stitched the top of her left lid and then across the bottom of her eyelids.

The stitching order I used for Vampire:

1. Right and left shoulder
2. Right and left collar sections
3. Right and left sides of bow tie
4. Bowtie knot
5. Bottom of ears
6. Head
7. Hair
8. Eyes and eyelids*
9. Nose
10. Fangs

*For Vampire's eyes, I first stitched the bottom edge of the eyelid and then around the entire outer edge of eye and lid.

Mr. Pumpkinhead has the most applique challenges. Here is my stitching order:

1. Shirt, right side and left side
2. Neck, right side and left side
3. Face #4
4. Face #5
5. Face #6
6. Right side of bow
7. Left side of bow
8. Bow knot
9. Face #7
10. Stem*
11. Mouth
12. Eyes and eyelids (I stitched his eyes in the same order that I did Witch's)

*When stitching the stem, it is best to start along a straight edge and not at a point. You can see where I started. You will also find it helpful to decrease the width of your zig-zag stitch when you are stitching the fine points along the edge of the face. Just take a few stitches, decrease the width, take a few more stitches, decrease the width, finish the point, and then start to increase the width gradually.

Well, I hope you are having fun. I sure am! I wanted to get this posted before Nancy and I leave town to teach in Liberal, KS, this weekend, so I'm going to do a third post this month which will cover the satin stitch for the detail lines. I will (hopefully) post that next week. Next month we will work on Werewolf, Cat, and Death, leaving the Mummy for last.

This is a great time to think about your quilt's backing. We have some wonderful Halloween fabric in now or coming soon. We have posted some of it in the store and I blogged about our Quilting Treasure's Happy Halloween fabric line a couple of days ago. I'm thinking that I want the orange skeleton fabric for my backing. You will need 3 1/2 yds for your backing. Check it out to get the best selection. Please leave a comment to let me know if I am helping you, or if I need to give you more detailed information and pictures.

Until next week,

Lynda

Happy Halloween Blog of the Month-Part 3a

Hello Halloween friends,

It's already June and we're on month three of Happy Halloween--my how time flies! Are you able to keep up? If not, these lessons will be here for a long, long, time. Just click on the Halloween Blog of the Month icon on the right side of the blog and bring up all of the lessons. Just remember that they are in newest to oldest order, so scroll down to the first lesson you missed and work up from there.

Meet my new friends--Mr. Pumpkinhead, Witch, and Vampire. By now you know how to prepare and fuse the applique pieces on the LSAS2. I sprayed and ironed the background fabrics with spray starch to stiffen them up so they act as a stabilizer (see last lesson). If you have a kit from us and have misplaced a fabric (darn, I know I saw that darker green fabric somewhere and how can you misplace something when you haven't even moved from the sewing machine?) or just want something different than our choice, feel free to go to your stash and choose something different--I wanted a different fabric for Witch's nose. : ) I used my lined fabrics for all of the eyes, Pumpkinhead's mouth, and Vampire's shirt and fangs.

Again, build smaller sections on your Applique Presser Sheet before combining the pieces together. If you don't have an APS you don't know how much easier life will be with one, or two, or three--three of the best investments ever!!! (I have one at each of my ironing boards).

For Mr. Pumpkinhead build 3 sections: the head wedges and stem, eyes and eyelids*, and the body, neck, and bowtie. After fusing these sections together, use the placement guide to fuse them into place. *I chose to fuse the eye section and the mouth to the pumpkin after I did the buttonhole stitching and because they were lined fabric, the previous stitching did not show through. Mark all detail lines (don't forget to mark the teeth even though the mouth is not yet fused to the head. I used my Sewline black pencil and a sunny window to see the lines--yeah I remembered this time! Fuse Mr. Pumpkinhead to the lightest background.






For Witch build 3 sections: the hat and hatband, the eyes, eyelids, and nose, and hair and head. After fusing the sections together, use the placement guide to fuse them into place. I chose to do the buttonhole on the shirt, before fusing the bat in place. Mark the detail lines and fuse Witch to the 2nd to the darkest fabric.



For Vampire build 3 sections: eyes, eyelids, and nose, head, inner ears, and hair, cape, shirt, collar and tie. Mark the detail lines and fuse Vampire to the 2nd to the lightest fabric.

We are ready again to do the buttonhole stitching. It might be time to change your needle--we have been doing quite a lot of applique. I noticed that my needle had a little fusible goo residue on it, so I cleaned it off. These 3 characters are slightly more complicated than the previous ones, but I know that you can handle them. I'll give you more hints and tips in the next lesson.

I'll also be posting or sending you an email because we are getting in the most wonderful Halloween fabrics that would make great backings for this wonderful quilt. Halloween fabrics can sell out fast and I want you to have the best choice. Check out the blog from May 29th to see the Happy Halloween fabric that we have designed for Quilting Treasures. This fabric will be in soon and I'm having a hard decision about which print I want for my backing.

See you soon,

Lynda

Happy Halloween fabric from Possibilities & Quilting Treasures

Our newest line of fabric, Happy Halloween from Quilting Treasures, is full of ghoulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night...this scarily fun collection will make spooky Trick or Treat bags, accessories and quilts for your favorite goblins! Coming to Great American Quilt Factory soon, info@greatamericanquilt.com, just in time for making lots of Halloween treats.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Where in the world was Nancy?

As most of you know, Judy and I were at Quilt Market in Pittsburgh recently. Nancy was to be in Ohio for her nephew's wedding, but............................she kept popping up, not wanting to miss her first market in a bazillion years. She of course, helped me with our Quilting Treasures Schoolhouse presentation where we debuted our two new fabric lines, Artifacts and Happy Halloween, but she was a lot less talkative than normal.

She got plenty of sleep every night, and woke up totally refreshed and ready to go--hair and makeup perfect--gee whiz, when I wear my lipstick to bed, it never looks that good in the morning.

She had a great time at the Quilting Treasures dinner, although her choice of wardrobe was a little unusual and doesn't that look like red wine and not white zinfandel?

Hmmmm--Cranston Print Works President, George Schuster was also wearing the same suit and tie.

Nancy, Judy, and I ordered lots of beautiful fabrics, although Nancy wasn't as quick to give her opinion as usual.

Janet and Elliot were on their way out of the show when Nancy ran up to get a last minute pic. You can tell from their smiles how great Spring Quilt Market was!

Here's Nancy and Judy with our Benartex friends.

Nancy wanted to tell Mother Superior about how much we like her threads, but Mother Superior was having an out of body experience.

We got a chance to ham it up with Mark Lipinski, although he was on the hunt for his parents and son. Thanks Mark, for the Kodak moment!

Our last trip on the May Quilt Market Free Shuttle and Nancy still has that sparkle in her eye and that beautiful smile. She was so happy that she could be in two places at the same time.

Well, another Spring Quilt Market is over. Good times, lots of laughs, great friends!

I LOVE MY JOB!!!

Lynda

The Quilting Answer Book

Barbara Weiland Talbert will be here at Great American Quilt Factory in Denver on Saturday, May 23, autographing copies of her new book. This book is a real treasure trove of questions and answers covering everything from choosing fabric, to battings and bindings, and lots, lots more. Barbara is a noted quilting and sewing author, columnist, editor, and designer. Visit her at www.joyofsewing.com or come in Saturday (10-12) and try to stump her with your quilting question. The book is well worth the $14.95 cost, especially if you are a late night stitcher and can't quite remember how to attach that binding.

On another note, Judy and I had a great time at Quilt Market and spent lots of money on pretty fabrics, great patterns, inspirational books, and the newest notions. Packages will be arriving everyday, so come by to see what is new. Although Nancy said she was in Ohio for her nephew's wedding, she was cited several times around the market. Stay tuned for Where In the World Is Nancy?

Happy Stitching,

Lynda

And the winners are....

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for all your nice comments about our books! So many of you could not pick out just one--and I agree. When we do a trunk show, I am constantly saying "and this is one of my favorite quilts from one of my favorite books".

We've had to discontinue a few books recently and it is always hard to say goodbye to them. We are not reprinting Super Simple Triangles, PS I Love You 3, and Home for the Holidays. If you have these books, hang on to them. If you are interested in them, contact your favorite quilt bookseller as soon as possible. We are totally out of Trianges, but we have a few copies of PS 3 and Holidays with slightly damaged covers that we are selling for 20% off. Call and ask for Chris if you are interested (303-740-6206).

Now, drum roll please.........................................................

The winners of autographed copies of our two newest books are:

Ann whose favorite book is PS I Love You (no longer available)

chickencindy whose fav is Wildflower Sampler

J-Kel-R who couldn't pick between Super Simple Squares and More Joy to the World

Congratulations to all 3 of you! I'll email Ann and J-Kel-R to let them know, but I don't have an email for chickencindy, so chickencindy give us a call or email me at millilyn@aol.com.

Lynda

Happy Halloween Blog of the Month, Part 2b

Hello again,

It's time to do the applique on these 3 blocks. I have a few hints for you. Blanket stitched fusible applique does not usually need a stabilizer, because the fusible web basically becomes a stabilizer. But, if you are having trouble with the stitch puckering, try using spray-on starch to help stiffen the fabric. I learned this method from Sue Nickels, an incredible applique artist and author. Before you bond your shapes to the background, spray starch the background and iron until dry. Apply several coats until the background is very stiff. Works great!!

Another tip for taking care of the loose threads is to pull them to the back (pull up on the bobbin thread or pop the top thread into a self-threading needle and stitch to the back). Pop all loose threads into the needle and slide the needle under several stitches and then clip. The back looks much neater and there is no chance for renegade threads to be seen from the front.

Check out how neat the Bat looks when most of the threads are treated this way.




Now for the stitching order for the Bat:

1. Left and right wing (stitches will be on the black fabric and not very visible)
2. Line between inner & outer left ear (stitches will be on the black fabric and not very visible)
3. Line between inner & outer right ear (stitches will be on the black fabric and not very visible)
4. Outer edge of ears and head section
5. Bottom of head
6. Eyes and eyelids
7. Teeth

The stitching order for Mrs. Monster:

1. Left and right bolt
2. Hair stripe
3. Hair
4. Left edge of face from bottom of neck to hairline
5. Right edge of face from hairline to bottom of neck
6. Collar
7. Eyes and eyelids
8. Nose

The stitching order for Mr. Monster:

1. Left and right bolts
2. Forehead hairline
3. Head, starting at left neck edge stitching all the way around to right neck edge
4. Top edge of v-neck
5. Shirt, starting at left shoulder stitching all the way around to the right shoulder
6. Eyes
7. Nose
8. Unibrow

Congratulations! We have 5 blocks almost finished. I will demonstrate the satin stitch for the detail lines next month. If you have any questions, please comment below or contact me at lynda@greatamericanquilt.com.

Next month we will be working on the Pumpkin, Vampire, and the Witch.

For now, Happy Stitching!

Lynda

Happy Halloween Blog of the Month, Part 2a

Happy May everyone and welcome to month 2 of the Happy Halloween Blog of the Month!

Well, I did some calculating and decided that in order to have this quilt made in time for Halloween we need to make 3 blocks each month. This month we will be working on Mr. and Mrs. Monster and the Bat. These blocks are a bit more complicated than the first two, but I'll walk you through it. Feel free to ask questions (click on comments). Chances are if something is unclear to you it is unclear to someone else.

I like to consolidate my pieces when I'm drawing the patterns. By squishing pattern pieces closer together and placing smaller pieces inside of larger pieces you will use much less LSAS2. You can see how I did this on Mr. and Mrs. Monster. Keep any large unused pieces of LSAS2, like those around Mrs. Monster, in a zip-lock bag to be used on another block.

All of the bat pieces are such strange shapes that you can't do too much squishing. Do not draw any pieces inside of the Bat's tummy, because I have a special hint that I learned and modified this week to help us press down large shapes such as the ghost's body from last month.

As we did last month, cut the shapes out leaving about 1/4" on either side of the penciled line, except for the smaller pieces and the bat's tummy.

For the bat's tummy or any other large piece, cut the shape out with the 1/4" on either side of the penciled line, except, leave the paper attached in a few places. You can see that I left the inside shape attached for about 1" at the top and bottom of the shape.

Keeping the shape together will help you press the LSAS2 down without distorting the shape. Press the shape carefully making sure not to press the inner part. Cut the inner LSAS2 away when you know that you will not distort the shape.

Bond the fusible shapes to the fabric. If you don't like the fabric we chose, feel free to choose something from your own stash. I used the wrong side of the aqua fabric for Mrs. M's bolts because I wanted them a little lighter than her face. Remember to line your light fabrics. I used lined fabric for all the eyes, Mrs. Monster's hair stripe, and the Bat's teeth. Depending on how dark the background fabric is, you might need to line other fabrics.

Build smaller sections on the Applique Pressing Sheet before combining them together. For Mr. M bond the eyes, nose, and eyebrow as a section, the shirt and v-neck as a section, and the bolts, head, and hair as the final section. This makes it easier to complete the face accurately. Be sure to mark the detail lines using a lightbox or a sunny window before bonding the head to the background fabric-notice that I forgot this step. Mr. M is bonded to the darkest fabric.

Again, build 3 sections for Mrs. M on the Applique Pressing Sheet--the eyes, lids, and nose for the first section. Bond the hair stripe to the hair for the second. The bolts, face, and collar make up the third section. Mark detail lines before bonding to background. Oops, forgot again. Mrs. M is bonded to the 2nd to the lightest fabric.

The sections to build for the Bat are the eyes and lids for one section. The second section consists of the tummy and the wings. The third are the ears, inside ears, and head. After assembling them all together, add the teeth, and mark the detail lines-yes, I forgot again. The Bat is bonded to the lightest background.


Okay, we are ready to applique. Stay tuned, because I will have more hints in Part 2b.

These blocks are soooo cute and pretty darn easy!

Lynda

PS, It's not to late to work along with us and have a wonderful quilt ready to display in October. Patterns and kits are still available. Click on the HH Blog of the Month logo on the sidebar to see all lessons.