One more quilting book

365 Fun-To-Stitch Quilt Blocks just came in the mail today.

I ordered it after doing the Lena's Choice block. I googled to see if I could find a way to do this block more simply, and I found this book. It's another great find, in my opinion. It divides the blocks into the following categories: Strips and Pieces, The Good Old Days, In the Garden, All God's Creatures, Nature's Glory, Beneath the Stars, Around the World and Blessed & Beloved. Each section contains several projects made from blocks in that section.

It also includes a sampler quilt for each section.

Then it goes into a description of how to piece each of the blocks, including pictures of the block and lists the required templates. 

Full-size templates are found at the end of each chapter, for ones that are used only for a specific block, 

or at the back of the book for common templates that are used in numerous blocks. 

All of the blocks are 12", so are interchangeable for the projects.
And yes, it has templates for Lena's Choice, though I still don't know if I will do this block again. It was a lot of work, and though it will be simpler with the templates, I'm actually a little happier with my original block now. If you recall, not only did it end up smaller than it was intended to be, so that I had to add a border, but I felt it was a little too busy without any background fabric. And the worst thing was that the centre ended up puckered. I had a bit of a mole hill in the middle. Meanwhile, after constructing my Maple Leaf block I started worrying about colour bleeding. The reds I had used in that block were cheaper fabric. So I tested a piece of the fabric by swishing it in some water in the bathroom sink. Uh oh - pink water. Then I got to thinking that I had several cheaper fat quarters and had used some of them in Lena's Choice as well. So I washed all of these fabrics (not all at the same time, of course), including the two or three blocks that I had already used them in. When I pressed the Lena's Choice block after washing, a lot of the puckering came out of the centre, which pleased me immensely. It looks much better now. Not only that, but I really didn't have the bleeding problems that I was worried about, even without colour catchers. But it's still better to be safe than sorry. And I intend to make my own colour catchers soon... now that I have my supplies. 
Meanwhile, I've finished most of the top for my grandson's quilt. I just have to decide if I want to put a border on it or not. I have enough fabric. I just wasn't sure if I'd have enough of the bandana fabric for the binding if I increased the size of the quilt by adding a border. Thanks to the Quilter's Paradise Binding Calculator, I now know that I have plenty. 
I took a break from quilt piecing to brush my cats this evening. I never used to get around to brushing them - and one of them is long-haired! But now I know that if I take the time to brush them, I spend less time cleaning up hairballs and vomit. And they actually love it, spoiled brats. They each think they should be the one getting brushed. Even though I have two slicker brushes (I actually found the second one when I was organizing my sewing room), it's rather difficult to brush two cats at once. Especially when they keep moving around while I'm brushing them, and not generally in the same direction. They're both sleeping on the bed behind me and I need to head off to dreamland soon as well. Good night for now.

Handy as Well as Craftsy

Today was my "X day," which is what we call a scheduled day off, because it's marked on the schedule with an "X." (Our collective agreement stipulates that a full-time nurse can only work 19 shifts in a 4-week period. That means I get a three day weekend every four weeks). I've been puttering around at home and haven't accomplished nearly as much as I would like, but I did get some things done that I've been putting off for awhile. Here's a picture of my sewing/craft room, to show you what I've gotten done: 

No, that is not a finished quilt. That is my design wall, AKA a cheap flannel-backed vinyl tablecloth with the flannel side facing out. (If you look closely, you can actually see the design on the tablecloth). That way I can stick quilt blocks on there, or even fabric swatches, and see what they look like together, and how I want to arrange them. It's a bit of a problem, however, when I'm working on more than one quilt. As you can see, I've got blocks from both the 2012 and 2013 BOM quilts and I'm not halfway through either one yet. I only have so much wall space, and I hated to hide them away while taking my quilting hiatus. I might put another "design wall" in behind the door. And maybe I'll replace the tablecloth if I can get a flannelette sheet for a reasonable price. It's not a good time of year to find flannelette sheets, but I might just check out some thrift stores.

Next to my "design wall" is something that, in all likelihood, you won't recognize as pegboard because you've probably never seen pegboard that colour before. I bought a can of fluorescent green spray paint at WalMart and painted it myself. As you can see, the spray paint didn't go on very evenly, but that's okay. It makes it look like a Batik fabric. :-) And I installed the pegboard myself as well. I got some directions from my local Alta-Wide/Tim-Br Mart, where I purchased the supplies. Actually I should say some of the supplies. Because I didn't want a full 4'x8' sheet of pegboard, they trimmed a piece the size I wanted from some scrap they had, as well as the lumber I needed for the strapping and gave it to me free of charge. Wow! That's what I call good customer service. I really appreciate it, as well, when someone in this type of store is willing to take the time to explain to me what I need to do to get the job done. My local Home Hardware is good about this also. But I still have to be able to do it. And I did, as you can see, using a level, a measuring tape, a power drill and a screw driver. I was looking for some way to store my quilting rulers and other stuff without them getting damaged. The main 6x24" ruler won't fit just anywhere easily. And I wanted it all to be readily accessible. Now it is, and I can see what I've got at a glance.

This was one of yesterday's projects: 

I had bought these containers at WalMart and yesterday I sorted fabric. One container has the fabric for the 2012 BOM, one has fabric for the 2013 BOM, one is various cat fabric, including a very nice panel that will become the centre of a quilt. Then there is various orange fabric destined to become a quilt for my daughter, John Deere fabric for my grandson, miscellaneous purple fabric for a Christmas tree skirt (I have a tree that I decorate all in purple that I need an appropriate tree skirt for). And finally, there is a container of odds and ends that I have yet to determine their destiny. Now I have to find shelf/closet space for all of these containers...
Today, the mail brought both my parcels. One was the book, The Quilter's Album of Blocks and Borders, which I found to be exciting and inspiring. You can find it here: The Quilter's Album of Blocks and Borders: More than 750 Geometric Designs Illustrated and Categorized for Easy Identification and Drafting The other was my Quilters Design Mirrors and Lazy Angle ruler. The ruler is already hanging on my pegboard, but I haven't figured out how to safely store the mirrors. Probably on the bookshelf. The mirrors can be found here:
Quilter's Design Mirrors: For Star, Kaleidoscope & Repeating-Design Quilts Get the Big Picture-Preview the Whole Design with this Larger Format Mirror
And the ruler can be found here: Creative Grids: Lazy Angle Ruler
I still need to put my tools away and maybe run to WalMart for some hooks. I want to hang my frying pans on the kitchen wall. I tried some swag hooks, but the ones I got won't fit the handle of my cast iron frying pans, so I'll have to explore another option.
Until next time,
Laura

A Pleasant Surprise

At work this afternoon, I received a phone call and was quite surprised to find that it was the Amazon marketplace vendor of the Quilters Design Mirrors that had cancelled my order. (He had my work number because he ships by courier, so I gave my work address and number for the parcel to be shipped to). He asked if I still wanted the mirrors and explained that someone had walked  into their shop and bought the last set the same day that I placed the order. He had not had the opportunity to update the inventory before I made my online purchase. Apparently this company is the Canadian distributor for the company that makes those mirrors. Seemed like a very nice person and I told him I was glad he called me because I now felt better about him. He said that he's been at the same quilt shows as our local quilt shop and that he will be at the one in Edmonton next month. I told him I will make a point of coming to his display to introduce myself. 
I believe that was great customer service and his company deserves a link posted on my blog. It's actually a bookstore, which, interestingly enough, sells nursing books as well as quilting books, and lots of other books as well. Here they are: Copperfields Bookstore.
And if you're interested in the quilt show in Edmonton, here's the link: Edmonton Festival of Quilts.

Some of us get most of our exercise jumping to conclusions. I have to make a concerted effort to get my exercise in healthier forms. :-)

Quilting Book and Colouring Page

I'm verbose tonight... I just wanted to make a correction regarding the quilting book mentioned in the Craftsy 2013 BOM lesson on drafting. It's this one:
  And I've already bought it. Will let you know what I think when I get it. I might still get the other one I linked to a few days ago.
Also wanted to share the colouring page that comes with the course materials for the 2013 BOM. I printed it out with the course materials (which come in PDF format, so can't add to it or change it while still on the computer), then I scanned it back in and saved it as .jpeg. Opening it with Windows Paint, I was able to add colour to it. I haven't finished it yet, but it's kind of a nice tool. Here it is so far:

The Quilter's Album: drafting quilt blocks

Yes, I am also enrolled in the 2013 Block of the Month from Craftsy (more on that later). Was just viewing the video on March's block and the teacher mentioned a book that is a library of quilt blocks, which you can use by applying the drafting skills learned in this month's lesson. I wanted to post it here so I can find the book later when I want to buy it. :-) Here's the book from Amazon:

Historical Quilting

I love history. And I also love quilting. And books. So, when I find a book that combines both history and quilting, then I'm really excited. I purchase a lot of fabric on eBay and when I discovered 1930s replica and Civil War replica fabrics, I knew there just had to be some patterns specific to these fabrics. So, I started looking. Here are some that I have found on Amazon: Guess what I'd like for Mother's Day?