Tag Archives: Accuquilt Baby GO

Mosaic Tiles Log Cabin

I recently purchased the book Modern Quilts by Elizabeth Hartman for my Kindle Fire. I enjoyed it so much that I also decided to take Elizabeth’s class on Craftsy. Needless to say, I am a fan. And on her blog, Elizabeth has great instructions for Mosaic Tiles blocks. I was completely intrigued. While I prefer to do all my cutting on the AccuQuilt, the improvisational piecing style is like a magnet.

Even with instructions, it took me awhile to realize that I had to keep things squared as I added new pieces. Once I realized that, it all fell into place. Then I realized that some of my pieces were ending up so small that the composition was too busy. Tiles are just that – tiles, not tiny bits smaller than the grout. This has been a fun challenge for myself.

And actually tiles didn’t work for me, so I switched to a log cabin style block, adding strips around the edges. And to be able to use my die cutter, I used strips. I’ll show you more later as this is just a jumping off point for me. There are lots of ideas percolating in my head. It has been much easier to work with this using the pre-cut strips. Here are photos of my experimentation.

 

 

close-up of mosaic log cabin blocks

  
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Flower Circles Quilt Story

Every quilt has a story and this story isn’t finished yet. I had seen a beautiful quilt that had circles on a line, so that inspired me to do something with the rickrack die and the flower circles. Choosing colors is never easy for me – and I had a lot of the gray batik for background fabric. I decided on a scrappy look for the circles as I had quite a few circles that were cut and wanted to use them up. All said, now that this is complete, I am feeling only lukewarm toward it as a quilt top. Quilting often is what “makes” the quilt, so this top still has one more redemption opportunity.

I guess the moral of this story is that not every idea is a success. Here’s the top – unquilted.

  
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Pets on Quilts Quilt Show

It’s only 9 days until the Pets on Quilts Quilt Show opens. And everyone is invited. Not only can you view the show on your computer sitting in your most comfortable chair, but you can also be a part of this show. The show runs from August 1-9. And there are some wonderful prizes. You can find out more about that over at Lilypad Quilting.

Here’s how to enter:

Go to Lilypad Quilting to find out how to add a linky on the Lilypad blog or post your entry in Flickr using your own account or the Pets on Quilts account.

Enter in one of the following categories:

  • dog on quilt / dog themed quilt
  • cat on quilt / cat themed quilt
  • other pet on quilt / other pet themed quilt
  • Best EQ pet theme quilt design
  • Best Art quilt

Winners:

There will be one winner from each of the above categories based on viewer votes.

There will be random winners chosen from everyone who does one or more of the following:

  • Be a PR Angel (post the badge, blog about the show)
  • Enter the show
  • View the show
  • Vote for Viewers Choice awards
  • Followers who view the show
  • Take the time to visit all of the entries and leave comment love

So get your photos and mouse finger ready! This is going to be a lot of fun.

Here’s what I worked on over the weekend. The turtle shapes were inspired by Snoodles over at Lilypad Quilting. And the shell designs have been in my head for a very long time.


 
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

After taking a few days off, yesterday has my quilting life back on track and moving again. Maybe it was going non-stop from April through June that slowed me down in July. Thus, when the opportunity for a beach trip came along, I took advantage. It was a fun trip with family including the grandchildren.

In June, I had so much fun making flowers out of circles that circle flower ideas have been floating around in my head. I have seen a couple of quilts with circles and other shapes on straight lines that look like ribbons running through the quilt. So, with a play on that idea, I used the narrow part of the Accuquilt GO! RickRack die to make strips to go across a 40 x 60″ piece of fabric. And I’m doing MEA (machine embroidery applique) circle flowers randomly along the rickrack. Not sure how this will turn out. It almost seems the flowers are a little small, or I didn’t stitch the rickrack close enough together, but since it’s random, I’ll see how this turns out. Please–suggestions are welcome.

Here’s progress so far:

This is the 40 x 60″ fabric with rickrack attached.

And here it is with one flower complete. That’s at an angle looking down – I’ll try to get a better photo tomorrow. I’m working on a t-shirt quilt, so can let the embroidery machine stitch while I work on the t-shirt quilt.

 
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Happy 4th of July and a few Circles

Hope everyone is having a Happy 4th of July here in the steaming hot USA. The last couple of days have only been in the upper 90′s here in North Carolina, but it seems hotter than our record 100+ temperatures of last week. I have spent the past few days working on a new machine embroidery set using my circle die and staying inside as much as possible.

There are two new machine embroidery sets using the Circle Die–and who doesn’t have a circle die? It is so wonderful to have perfectly cut circles every time.

I did something new that I thought I would share. It’s a way to reduce waste when cutting circles–and a picture is worth a thousand words.

Circle Die 2-3-5 inch circles

Use an 18 inch x 6 inch strip of fabric with fusible already pressed onto the wrong side. Leave the paper on the fusible until circles have been cut. 

 And here’s one of the designs from the Circle Flower Set I’m finishing today. You can also do this on your regular sewing machine using the applique stitch. Scroll all the way to the end to see this really fun flower made only from the small (2 inch) circle on the circle die.

 
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Accuquilt GO! Zoo Animals and a few Orphan Blocks

When I was making the quilt for my nephew, there were a few blocks left over from all the different layouts I tried. In fact, there were enough blocks left over to make another baby quilt. And, whenever I digitize, lots of blocks are created. Altogether, they turned into a cute baby quilt. And the machine embroidery set is for sale and ‘on sale’ in my shop. I also added some elephants to round out the ‘zoo.’ The photo is from my phone and it’s hard to hold it completely still – but you get the idea.

And since the top was 45 x 45 inches, the backing needed some extra width. Thus, I added some quarter square triangles that were cut using the 8 inch finished quarter square triangle die from Accuquilt. And that made a perfect back for this little quilt. Love the way this turned out – I can see using strips of triangles across backs in lots of different ways.

Believe it or not – the blue on the front is the same blue fabric as the back. The light really changes the appearance of color.

And I thought I’d add in a couple of extra photos that are fun. Here are Ezri and Kes at pre-kindergarten graduation. Kes will still be in pre-K in the Fall, but Ezri will be in Kindergarten. Don’t you love those paper hats? They’re like the paper crowns we used to wear when I was a child – what a nice and inexpensive way to “graduate.”

And my husband is building a “tree house” addition to the swing set for the grandchildren. Last summer just before school started, Ezri and Kes were having a conversation as to whether our house (back yard actually) was a playground or a park. Ezri, much more experienced with school, assured Kes that Grandpa’s house is a “park”. 

 

  
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Zoo Animals and . . .

It’s always dangerous for me to re-arrange my work area. This morning I can’t seem to locate where I put the two tops that Sherry finished and I wanted to take photos. I sorted everything and re-arranged some things, so I know everything’s there; I just can’t remember where. Will find them today and show you tomorrow.

Last week I took some days just to clean and sort and shop for groceries, etc. Whole Foods had organic blueberries on sale for $1.99 so I got two gallons for $20.00. I put them in the freezer–they will last a long time–and make great smoothies and popsicles for the children.

And yesterday it was back to stitching again. The zoo animals digitizing is done – and now all I have to do is the documentation. Will try to get it finished today. Here’s a preview:

Lion with Satin Stitch

Lion with Satin Stitch

Monkey with Freeform Applique Stitch

Giraffe with Applique Blanket Stitch

 
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Memorial Day 2012 and Quilts of Valor

This is a particularly special Memorial Day for me as we go into the last lap of the GO! for a Star Quilts of Valor Challenge. I have “met” and become aware of so many quilters who are dedicated to honoring the military service men and women who serve to protect us, our country and our way of life. The Quilts of Valor program is a wonderful way to give back to them.

The Quilt Show blog has a short 18 minute preview video of a public television show that has been made about the Quilts of Valor program. I hope you will be able to watch this video.

And here are the quilts that I have been working on for the last few days. Every minute spent on them has been enjoyable. There is still time for any of you reading this to become a part of this Challenge and to make a single quilt block or several quilt blocks and get them in the mail to Richard and Tink Linhart by May 31. You can find more information here.

This is the quilt made with the Triangle in a Square Accuquilt die(55027).  I had made 12 blocks as I worked with this die, so bordered them with the blue and did a wide sash (3 inches finished) so that the quilt would be large enough. This one still needs binding on it.

This is the split star quilt made with 12 inch blocks. It turned out beautifully and is even prettier in person. 
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Another beautiful QOV finished

Colleen over at Colleen’s Sew Inspired sent this photo along of a quilt top that she completed for the GO! for a Star QOV Challenge. What a wonderful tribute for someone who has served our country.

This is really beautiful with the rail fence blocks and that wonderful star print just makes it sparkle. And I love the striped border. Colleen has a good eye for putting fabrics together.

All it takes to enter this Challenge is a single 12-1/2″ block. Dick and Tink have a committed group of quilters who will put all the blocks together into quilts, and they have longarm quilters who will quilt and finish the quilts. Every effort is important. If you make Quilts of Valor for your local chapter, you probably have an orphan block or two lying around. The quilts that Dick and Tink receive are given to service members throughout the US. It is so easy to put a block into an envelope and send it to them. Include your name and email address and your city and state on a piece of paper along with the block.

Richard and Tink Linhart
333 West Brown Deer Road #130
Milwaukee, WI 53217 
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Star with Flag Center Quilt Block

This quilt block was sent to me by Colleen over at http://colleens-sewinspired.blogspot.com/. Colleen is a new blogger, but has been a stitcher for many years. She asked for cutting instructions for making this in an 8 inch finished size, but I have also included cutting instructions for the 12 inch finished size. I am not going to include block construction because you can use the Split Star instructions for making this block. The only difference is the center unit – one is a flag and the other is a half square triangle.

Click on the image below to access the adobe pdf file with cutting instructions.

  
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie