TIny Tuesday #17

I wanted to try something a little different today.  I actually needed to do something involving handwork as my quilting supplies seem to have gone into hiding.  Moving houses is so confusing!  Instead of doing normal applique in which a shape is sewn onto background fabric, we are doing the reverse.  Background fabric will be sewn onto the top of the focus fabric, framing it decoratively.  You could do regular applique if you prefer, but it is fun to try new things from time to time. 

You will need to print out a copy of the heart template.  You may print it directly onto freezer paper or print it out on regular paper and trace it onto freezer paper.  Trim the freezer paper to 5 inches square, which is the unfinished size of the block.

I chose to trace mine.  It seemed easier given that I could not find my rotary cutter anywhere.  Things are getting harder to find each week that the house is on the market.

We are doing reverse applique this week rather than traditional applique.  The background is sewn onto the top of the applique shape, giving it a framed look.  This is a nice technique if you are using a pieced fabric.  I think crumb fabrics would look great framed out in reverse applique hearts.  So cut away the center of the heart, leaving a freezer paper outline.  Iron this to the front of your background fabric which should be just every so slightly larger than 5 inches to allow you a bit of room for possible frayed edges during the sewing process.

In order to prepare the edges of the background fabric, clip the curves and begin to fold back the seam allowance.  You can iron the crease or use a tiny bit of glue stick to hold it down temporarily.

Continue to fold back the seam allowance all the way around the background fabric until you have a lovely heart shaped frame.

Now for the fun part!  Use that frame to find a nice fancy piece of beautifully patterned teal fabric and strategically place your background fabric to highlight its special features.  You may either pin the fabrics together temporarily or use a tiny bit of glue to hold the fabrics together for now.  Trim away excess heart fabric around the back.

Now just use a blind hem stitch to sew the two fabrics together.  You could also do it by machine of course, or even use a decorative blanket stitch.  So many great options in the world of applique.

ScrapHappy Saturday #16

Where does the time go? Just 4 more Mondays in the school year and it is getting both frantically busy and winding down at the same time.  We are still busy working on the new house.  The old house is now under contract again.  Fingers crossed that it works this time.  My dear husband decided last weekend that we were going to refinish the floors in the new house.  That is a mistake we are still trying to recover from.  On the bright side though, I officially started the relocation of my sewing room and hope to have it set up and ready to use quite soon.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link partyClick here to enter

Tiny Tuessday #16

We have another guest designer today!  I am so thankful for those who have volunteered to design blocks.  Especially given the amount of chaos going on right now.  

Katie Z. has a lovely block for us called Spinning Stars.  

ScrapHappy Satuday #15

Anna is home for a long weekend.  She got a ride home Friday after calculus from a friend driving to the airport.  She wanted to paint her new room

It is going to be blue

Sydney came to help too, but she had a sleepover.  She is going through a tired and hungry phase right now.

We are going to rent a floor sander and try to make some of the hardwood scratches a bit better.  Sydney's room is the worst.  If it is a complete fail, she will be getting tile instead.  

Hoping that the linky tool will be nicer to me today.  Wish me luck!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Tiny Tuesday #15

Mari was scheduled to post a block next week, but she had it ready early and offered to have it up this week instead.  I gladly took her up on her kind offer!  She has made a Spinner block for us all to try.  It is super cute.  I can't wait to make one.  Falling a bit further behind each week with house showings and painting of the new place, but everything is moving along well and I can't complain about an abundance of productive effort that is moving us toward settling into our new home.  Transitions are difficult for everyone, but it will have me sewing away in a new studio before you know it.  So for now, please go visit Mari and tell her thanks for another great block!

For now, I'm recovering from 2 days away from school and hoping to get caught up any day now.  Just 16 school days until the end of course exam for my little guys and 19 before the the AP test for my bit buckaroos.  Deep breath an moving on! 

ScrapHappy Saturday #14

At the state academic team competition this weekend and working to get the new inlinkz to work.  Wish me luck.  

I don't seem to be having much luck with the linky party again this week.  Is there anyone who has successfully navigated the freshlinkz system who might have some words of advice?  When I finish creating the link, there is a box for the party on the dashboard, and at the bottom it says "copy code"  When I try to copy the code, it asks for a blog URL, and when I enter my blog, it tells me that "this url has been taken"  I've tried it for the main blog url as well as the specific url for this post.  Has anyone else run into this problem?  I finally heard back from tech support last week to get the new account activated, but waiting another day and half for them to help would be a bummer.  

Hey, maybe I got it to work.  I pasted the link into a new tab and copied it back to this post.  I'm sure that is not how it is supposed to work, but there seems to be a linky here now.  Sorry to be having such trouble.  Usually I can navigate these things pretty easily.  Not sure why I'm having such fits right now.  Probably because I'm trying to rush through everything.  That is always when it gets hard.  We lost our first match yesterday and therefore have to play a consolation round to earn our way back into the competition.  Wish us luck?  Winning is so much more fun than losing.  

We went to Epcot last night after our match and it was beautiful!  They are having a flower festival right now.  We were able to get in all the main rides and see all the sights before the big light show at 9.  I was ready to sleep after all of that, though the kids still seemed to be going strong.  We have brunch first thing and then maybe a quick park trip before the match and then more park time of course.  I think Animal Kingdom is the plan for today.  It is one of my favorites.  The new Pandora is just breathtaking.  

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

https://fresh.inlinkz.com/share/party/032ee589046f4661ac1996d25244b050

Not Quite Quilting

 We found two new windows at the new house.  They were all covered with drywall and we didn't even know that we had them.  Kurt has been creating lots of dust while taking out the drywall. 

 I haven't had much time to sew, but at least I got to use my quilting supplies to cut shelf liner. There was lots of very old and grubby contact paper that I am replacing. 

 Look how clean it looks now!

Painting is happening slowly.  Most of the priming is done, at least on the main floor.  I got one gallon of our possible color up to see how we like it.  It is a Benjamin Moore color called Balboa Mist.  What do you think?

This is the color from before.  We are replacing the light fixtures too, and the baseboards.  One project at time though, slow and steady.  I'm hoping that the dust making ends soon and I can set up a sewing room.  That will be fun!

Tiny Tuesday #14

I'm enjoying classic patterns lately.  Today's block is a simple variation of a log cabin with the color placed ever so slightly differently.  The advantage of this layout over a traditional log cabin is that you can add two log on each round before you have to iron rather than just one, which makes things go faster when you are sewing just one block.
Cutting:

 Each log or step on your block is made from a 1 inch strip cut in an even increment of 1 inch.  That makes it easy to cut and to keep track of.  I decided to use the aqua fabric for the center, but either arrangement would work.
Aqua:
A single 1 inch square
2 2 inch by 1 inch rectangles
2 3 inch by 1 inch rectangles
2 4 inch by 1 inch rectangles
2 5 inch by 1 inch rectangles

Background:
2 1 inch squares
2 2 inch by 1 inch rectangles
2 3 inch by 1 inch rectangles
2 4 inch by 1 inch rectangles

 Here are all the steps laid out

 First, sew a white square onto either side of the center teal square.  Press the seams away from the center. 

 Next, add a 2 inch step onto either side of your center squares.  If you are using a perfect quarter inch seam, the steps should match the size of the center unit perfectly.  Now is a great time to adjust your seam if it isn't quite right.  I kept finding me steps just a tad short, meaning that my seam was too narrow.  I adjusted ever so slightly on the next round and all was well.

 Continue to add steps to either side of your center unit, pressing the seams away from the center with each addition.

 On the third round, I started to find my steps just a tiny bit short again.

 I trimmed the edges gently and tried to make sure the next round was spot on.

The final block should be 5 inches square.  It has lots of pieces, but with careful sewing, it is a pretty straight forward block to sew.  It should be set diagonally in the final quilt.  

ScrapHappy Saturday #13

Sorry to be off to such a late start this morning.  InLinkz has been giving me fits.  I've been working on the old version because I never wanted to take the time to switch over.  Today the old version finally stopped working all together and I can't get the new one to work.  I'll get that figured out ASAP.  Until then, I'm on a temporary account.
We got the ceilings painted on the main floor of the new place this week!  No more offers on the old place yet.  I was hopeful when someone wanted information on the age of the water heater and amounts for all the utilities, but then they went on their merry way.  Kurt is off for his dad's wedding this weekend, but the rest of us weren't able to go.  Tomorrow is prom for Ryan and he is super excited (on a Ryan scale that means he gave it a "neat").
I have a ticket in with the  linky service, until then, I've used the free version to create a text only linky.  Yikes!  Sorry for the bother.  I've been procrastinating on switching over until things calm down.  Calm may not be happening around here for a while.
   

Tiny Tuesday #13

Guest designers are such a blessing to me right now.  Thanks so much to Beaquilter for a lovely block this week. It is a Shoofly, and there is nothing better in my opinion than a traditional block done scrappy.  So enjoy Tiny Tuesday block number 13

April is Aqua!

Welcome to a new month.  Time to put away the green and shift gears ever so slightly to aqua.