It's Blogger’s Quilt Festival Time!

After participating a bunch of times in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, hosted by Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side, I took a couple of years off. I decided I couldn't stay away any longer!

Many thanks to Amy for gathering hundreds of quilters together to show some of their favorite quilts all in one place. Click on the logo above for a list of all the participating quilter bloggers.

I few years ago I joined a quilt challenge group called Fast Friday Fabric Challenge but haven't kept up with it. I did manage to make a small quilt once for the challenge and wrote a post about it then.

Since it's been a while, I'd like to share it with all the new people attending the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

The two challenges that I combined in one piece was one challenge to use a single shape and the other one to use color fields. The piece is 8-1/2" x 11".

Hexagon's are my go-to shape when I design many of my projects. Some are still WIPs or UFOs. So, it's natural that my most recent project is made of hexagons!

I've been a follower of Geta Gramma's blog for a while. She does gorgeous work and makes wonderful patterns. She also makes a lot of things with hexagons. A few months ago she wrote a new pattern for a zippered pouch that has another pouch inside, called the "Twice as Nice".

I was coveting that pattern and through a little protexia (Hebrew slang for having connections), I was gifted with a copy of the pattern by Geta!

One side of the pouch I made with English Paper Piecing and the other side I made with Inklingo printed fabric. Hexagons, of course! Inklingo is used for all sorts of piecing, but mostly hand piecing. I chose to do it by machine and Inklingo made it soooo easy!

The fabric I used are hand dyes by Lunn Fabrics. I used to order PFD fabrics from them years ago when they still sold retail on their website. I got this as a free gift for ordering over a certain amount. It's my favorite color! 

The zippers are the color they are because that's what I had in the house. They were both already used zippers, of which I have a collection. I messed up a little by not making sure that the zippers go in the same direction.

Here are links to my posts in the past Festivals:

Blogger's Quilt Festival #1  April, 2009

Blogger's Quilt Festival #2  October, 2009

Blogger's Quilt Festival #3  May, 2010

Blogger's Quilt Festival #4  October, 2010 

Blogger's Quilt Festival #5  May, 2011

Enjoy!

Debbie

How many scissors do you have?

Thearica of PigTales and Quilts has challenged us to show off our scissors collections. Ken's Sewing Center is allowing her to give away a pair of Gingher 7" Shears! Check out Thearica's scissors collection post with the giveaway (that ends tomorrow.)

First, the scissors that reside in my sewing room. 

These are my snips, always sitting under the sewing machine and are used all the time:

These are my fabric scissors. One Gingher and one Singer from when I first learned to sew, close to 45-50 years ago! The Singer used to be serrated. One day I brought them to a 'professional' sharpener. I told him to leave the serrated edge alone. I picked them up and the serrated edge had disappeared! He gave some excuse that you need to sharpen both edges together, or something like that.

These are the paper scissors that I use in the sewing room. They are very long and great for cutting patterns and such.

Other miscellaneous scissors in my sewing room. The ones on the right are pinking shears, also from when I first learned to sew. Remember when we used to pink all the seams in the garments? My grandfather was a tailor of men's suits and the second from the left was one of his large scissors. My mother has the other pair.

These are the scissors that I use for embroidery and hand piecing.

Thearica mentioned that she did not include her kitchen or bathroom scissors, so I will.

From the bathroom:

In the kitchen, the blunt ones are kept in the flatware drawer, used for opening up bags. Then there are the chicken shears and the paper and tape scissors in the computer desk (which is just off the kitchen.)

About a year and a half ago, my husband's grandmother passed away one month after her 100th birthday. She lived in the neighborhood and when they were cleaning out her apartment, among the many things that were brought here to my house was a box of old scissors. I never got around to trying them out yet. They need to be cleaned and have some rust to be sanded down.

I know there are several others around the house, but I didn't dig them up for photos. So, I estimate about close to 30 in total.

How many scissors do you have?

Enjoy!

Debbie

More light!

A few days ago, Kelly, from I Have A Notion, wrote about her new LED light strip for her sewing machine. So, I have to show mine, too!

A year or so ago, my son bought a roll of LED light strips. He made a long, six rows wide, light for over our stove. It's fantastically bright! He gave me the leftovers from the roll. and I mounted them on a piece of soft plastic. Then he connected the little strips, added a switch and a plug. I velcroed the lights under  the throat of the machine.

Result: Lots more light to sew with! What a difference! And, at a cost considerably less than the special sewing machine lights sold these days.

Enjoy!

Debbie