Quick & Easy Must Have Item!

For awhile now, I've been thinking of making one of those portable pressing tables some of my friends have, you know---you take a wooden tray table and cover it?  The great thing about it is, even when you are sewing in a crowded situation, like retreat or a workshop, there always seems to be space to use this.  My friend Vicky & Marie both have them, with really cute covers, and they put them to their left when sitting at a 6 foot table, making your space into an "L".

Another friend, Rebecca, mentioned she had several she had gotten really cheap at a garage sale, as a set, and offered me one-----shout out to her!  It's great to have friends, isn't it? (You could also find one at Target or Meijer, for about $10).  And I must mention here that it needs to be made of WOOD, so you can staple into it.   So last night at guild, I got the table from her, and have managed to get it covered very quickly, from my well-supplied quilting studio, just this morning!

Here's what I did:

Measure the top of the tray table, mine was 14.5" by 19".  (and about 1/2" thick)

Cut one piece of Insul-Bright the exact size of the top, and also one piece of cotton batting (leftovers from quilt tops are wonderful to have).  BOTH are exact size to cover just the top of the tray table.

Cut fabric top about 3"-4" larger on top & side to allow for pulling that fabric only to the back. For mine, that rounded off to 18" X 22".  You can run out & buy something cute, a printed canvas or home dec fabric would be great, but I used what I had on hand, a fabric I love, green with some blue that friends put on the back of my 'big birthday' quilt.

Layer first with the Insul Bright goes  (next to the wood), then the batting, then the printed fabric.  Many of us like a firmer surface for pressing, so this works great.  If you like, add another layer of batting now, for a softer surface.  Turn this pile upside down on the floor, the fabric next to the floor, then put your opened tray table on top it, making sure the cushy part is evenly covering the wood, and you have about 2" of fabric along each side to pull to the back.

Load up your staple gun & if it has a tension adjustment, it has to go to 'strong' if you tray table is oak like mine was---oak is a very hard wood.  Then pull gently taut on a long side, stapling about 3-4" apart.  Next, the opposite side.  Then, the ends, pulling and tucking around the ends.

Voila!!!  Here is is, ready to go!

One of the great things about having a staple gun for projects like this is that when the cover gets dingy looking, as it will with a lot of use, you can easily remove just that fabric covering & re-cover it, all fresh and new!

So, easy peasy, I now have portable extra space.  I can press on it, or add a cutting board and do smaller trimming.  Or whatever I want!

Meanwhile, I'm supposed to be getting packed right now to go on a quilter-girls weekend Up North.  Can't wait!  But had better get on to the packing.  Isn't planning projects to take always the hardest thing????  That's where most of my time has gone the last two days, and my project STILL isn't ready!  Best I get back to it.....

P.S. SEW-JO UPDATE!

3pm breaking news----it appears to be back, as my GLHQ Challenge quilt is all cut and partially sewn!  The bad news is....didn't go to the gym,  walk on the treadmill or get dressed yet today!  And if I don't go to the grocery store now, my husband will have no yogurt in the morning!!

SEW-JO

Sew Jo.  You gotta have it.  But what if it goes missing?  What do you do?  Panic!  Oh no!  How do I get my SEW-JO back???

It's magical, it's elusive sometimes.  SEW-JO.  It's the making-it magic for quilters!  But every now and then it falters.  Why?  Why does that happen?  I don't know.  I think, sometimes, for me (maybe not for you), it's something sitting there waiting that you don't really want to work on, but have to.  Or feel you have to.

I've been suffering a mis-fire on my sew-jo.  Not for a long time.  But I sew a lot, so if it goes missing for just a few days, I wonder what the heck is wrong with me?  I decided that this time it IS caused by the project under my needle.  My Wild and Free Applique quilt from my workshop with Pat Sloan.  I really, REALLY, want to have it done by guild meeting, 2nd Thursday of April.  I like it, yes, but discovered once I started quilting it that I wasn't really confident with HOW I was quilting it, and that caused my beloved SEW-JO to slip town for a few.

To jump start it, I went into my sewing room this weekend, reluctantly, feet dragging.  Decided to do a little string piecing.  Every since two classes I took this summer on string piecing, I have been keeping a box of little pieces, just for string-piecing.  So I got that out and spent a little time joining them together.  Pressed them.  And FLED.

Today I went back in, boldly and unafraid.  I was going to take those string-pieced thingies and make a pillow cover for my living room chair, damn it!  In quick-time, so I could then walk on the treadmill, and maybe go to the gym!

So I did.

Is SEW-JO back?  I don't know, but I think a kick-start of something easy and no-pressure is helpful.

I'll keep you posted.....

"Splendid Week"

This week my larger guild, Great Lakes Heritage Quilters hosted Pat Sloan, who presented a lecture & brought some quilts to show.

Pat and husband Greg are quite the team---they both work full-time in their business.  She has about 32 published books, many, many, fabric lines, a radio show and much much more (including current project, The Splendid Sampler).  They work very hard at what they do, and consequently, are good at it.  I really respect a quilting teacher who gives her (or his) all to their business.  They want to give you value.   Their products and their classes show this.

Bonnie Hunter is like that too.  She works very hard at what she does and is very popular, which she deserves.  One of the things that impressed me most when I met her (she was at Great Lakes my program year in the spring of 2014) is her enthusiasm for the places she goes.  She's not 'tired' or 'jet-lagged'.  She's excited to be there, explores the area, and gets to know the people she teaches.  She's interested in you, and she will remember your name.  She's a very energetic, POSITIVE person.  I respect her SO much.

I've kidded about starting a website one day, modeled after Angie's List.  It will be Sue's List, and will be for quilt guilds, looking for info about speakers.  We can review and post info there, politely, discreetly.  It's very disappointing to have a BIG speaker who is not a good teacher, and let's face it--being good at something does NOT mean you are good at teaching.  That's a separate skill.  It would be nice to know honestly, 'her lecture will be fantastic, she's very personable, but is not a good teacher' or 'her books are good but she has no personality in front of a microphone'.  Nothing against them, but a guild can spend several thousand dollars on a 'big' program, and they should know what they are getting.   And hey---that website idea is hereby COPYRIGHTED!

Anyway, Pat and Bonnie both impress me.  They work hard, and if you hear them speak or take a workshop, you will get VALUE, you will have a great experience!  Thank you to both of you!

Back to guild----I put out the call for Splendid Sampler blocks, as a display of them for Pat seemed like a great idea, and it was!  We didn't have tons of participation, but many people at guild didn't even know about it yet.  Seeing the blocks got many interested, and I bet if get together a display again, in maybe 5-6 months, there will be many more participants.  Here are Pat and I in front of our display.  She seemed very pleased we had done it & put a photo of it on her Facebook page.

The day of the meeting, I got the block done that came out that day.  Fortunately, it was pretty easy and fast.

The next day, I was in a workshop sponsored by GLHQ of Pat Sloan's 'Wild and Free' Applique.  We spent the day working on how to select fabrics for a background on which to build the applique.  Pat borrowed fabrics from two workshop participants and went thru them the way she would, picking and discarding what works together and why, building your palette----'curating' she called it.

Then, we went back to our too-small tables (as any would be at this point---we needed spreading out room), curating & selecting fabrics first.   You then use those fabrics & follow the pattern diagram, folding fabrics into something resembling the size & shape they will hold, see how they will look.  Take pictures as you go so see how it looks to the camera eye (isn't technology wonderful for quilters!!! And we have printers in our homes too!).

I got most of those fabrics cut to pattern-size but not too much farther that day, I get my real work done at home, in my studio, 100% attention, everything I need and want at hand.   Made a substitution or two, now that stash was at hand.  Then auditioned the 1 1/2" strips in a contrasting fabric. 

The 'peach pop' looked great, it was in the final two choices, but didn't make it to the final cut.  I thought they grey would be a better background for the applique--let THAT do the color pop!  Here's the top, all pressed and tidy.

I LOVE it!  I was NOT going to make a new project from this workshop, just listen, learn and play.  Oh well.  I went on to start pulling applique fabrics and couldn't stop there.  Did some cutting and pining to the wall.  But not going to show that just yet!

At the workshop, Pat did show us HER Splendid blocks, which were GORGEOUS---red and aqua!    She let us take pictures, but I'm not going to share those here, as I forgot to ask permission.  Take a look at her blog, I know a few are there.  She used her fabric collection Hometown Girl, which has a set of prints and a set of batiks, the entire collection is pretty big, but I LOVED many of them and have some in my 'virtual cart' ready to pull the trigger on.

1st Splendid Challenge

Since I came back from my short trip, extended a day due to snow in the Midwest, I've been struggling to get caught back up with my Splendid Sampler blocks, othe  rwise known as my current 'look!!!  there's a squirrel'!! New ones come out each Sunday and Thursday, and that rolls around pretty quick when you're not able to do them.

I started with the Modern Country fabric collection, added some black and grey, some other low volume backgrounds.  Threw in a little Fibs and Fables.  And we'll see where we go from there.  I do like to work scrappy, and figure the sashing chosen will pull it all together.  And also figure I'm not going to worry about it a lot right now.

My favorite so far are these:

"Happy Happy' by Jen Kingwell

'Lots of Love' by Melissa Corry

'Snug as a Bug' by Amy Sinibaldi

Loving Jen Kingwell's work came as no surprise---I always do!  But doing the hand embroidery was oddly fun, after somewhat dreading it when I first saw it.  Some people added fabric for the quilt and appliqued it down, but I decided to stick with Amy's theme and make mine all with embroidery, imperfect as it is.  Embroidery not being my strong suit.

Splendid also issued it's first challenge----post a picture of all seven, your first group, all done, and do it by Sunday, March 13.  There will be a drawing, and PRIZES, including patterns, thread and a jelly roll.  I didn't even need that challenge, I'm competitive enough just to want to keep up!  Some post their blocks with HOURS of the block coming out, gee whiz!  Hard to compete with that.  Just want to keep up in reasonable time, get one done before the next comes out.

But here are my first seven, completed in a timely manner, and posted together.  All done in the spirit of the designer's pattern.

Tomorrow night my guild is hosting PAT SLOAN, so I will assist our program team by setting up a SPLENDID SAMPLER board.  So if you are in the area, visitors can come here Pat's lecture and see her trunk show for a guest fee of $10, and please bring your Splendid blocks with you, and we'll put them up on the flannel!!  We invite you to join us, Great Lakes Heritage Quilters, meeting somewhere different tomorrow, First United Methodist Church of Troy, 6363 Livernois, Troy, Michigan, 7pm.  If you'd like to share any other work, especially Pat Sloan patterns, feel free to bring that too!  Hope to see you!

Researching SAVANNAH, Georgia for QUILTCON WEST 2017

While on a family visit south last week, I was able to go to Savannah and look at the location of QUILTCON EAST 2017.  It made the pain of missing Quiltcon West 2016 a titch easier.

There is a river in Savannah that separates the convention center and one of the the hotels (the Westin).  On the other side, the city and all the other hotels, restaurants, historic squares, etc.   But staying here allows us to walk to the convention center, pulling or carrying bags needed for class.  Getting to the city itself and the other hotels require that you take a ferry across the river, possibly lugging class stuff.   So that is something to consider when choosing where you will stay.  Both work just fine, it depends on your preferences and hotel availability.

Convention Center and adjacent Westin

Here's a map that also shows the ferry locations and areas of interest in Historic Savannah.

When coming from the Convention Center over on the ferry, you then have to take steps up from the river front, of which I see three different sets or there is also an elevator up (see the map).  I do not recommend cocktails and walking over the cobblestones & up the steps!  Below is one of the cobblestone areas of which I speak.  Pretty, but possible ankle-wrenching!

An area of interest is the City Market, shown below.  It is pedestrian only, and you can get a horse-drawn carriage ride from there, or get a ticket for the tourist trolley, which you can get on and off as much as you wish as it makes its way around the city.  We were there on a Tuesday, I think, so not a lot of people out in the market area at the time.

From here is an easy walk around some of the historic squares, which are absolutely lovely!  Majestic, large, live oaks, dripping with Spanish Moss.  Truly a beautiful and easy walk.  Around them,  gorgeous old homes and businesses.  It was a cloudy day, so pardon the lack of blue sky, which would make my pictures sooooo much better!

 

Along one square was the historic Olde Pink House, converted into a restaurant with great reviews.
Really pretty!

A nice thing about visiting this time of year was that it WAS Quiltcon week, so I could see what the weather might be like while Quiltcon was going on next year.  Very pleasant!   Shirtsleeves.  High 60's to mid-seventies during the day, but cool evenings and mornings, so a light jacket or sweater would be great to pack.

Flowers were blooming.

a hotel courtside planter---lovely!

Azaleas

Walking the gardens in the historic district is a MUST!  Trip Advisor lists some of the other things to do & gives some history of Savannah.

If you're out and about walking, coffee at The Coffee Fox is wonderful---I had the Mexican Latte and loved it!  But forgot to take a pic of it, oh well...

Paula Deen has a restaurant there, easy walking distance, which also has a little gift shop with some fun stuff.  Butter, y'all???  Oh yes!  For sure!

Saw this wonderful bar, but research is showing it may have closed.  Darn it!  Who wouldn't want to go to The Velvet Elvis, Boozery and Music Cavern?????!!  Inside it is The Jinx, with live music.

It looks like we will eat well and have some beautiful scenery!

Here's a few more relevant pics.

You can get a tatto

At least on River Street, you can walk around with a drink in your hand

You & your friends could get a set of stupid matching t-shirts!  Aways a plus anywhere you go!

a building downspout---gorgeous!

You can get a reading

Georgian detail

Beautiful---located on edge of a square

I think we're headed for a good time!  Although....does it really matter where we are?  Quiltcon could almost be ANYWHERE and we would have a wonderful time!  All we need is a great convention center for hanging the quilts, a nice clean hotel to stay, and some restaurants.  And BARS.  Just sayin'.

P.S.  Changed up my blog template just a little, I get bored---what do you think?  I tried so hard to use one of my own pictures for the background, but they were all TOO LARGE.... Technology is so time-consuming.  I could be QUILTING!

Oooops----did I start a NEW project????

Well....... yes. Yes I did.  I deserved it, since I've finished SEVEN quilts since early December, and most of those were UFO's---only one was new, start to finish in about ten days.  The rest were all finishes. So there!

Didn't intend to.  But Monday I started to see the first blocks being posted for The Splendid Sampler.  Hosted by Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson (Quilt Jane), there are more than 80 designers, including one of my absolute faves, Jen Kingwell.  A really, REALLY spectacular list of designers!!

The six-inch blocks will be released twice a week, Sundays and Thursday, with a total of 100 in all.  The project lasts a year, and there are two holiday weeks off. 

Anyone can manage two blocks a week, right?  And you NEED to have some piecing to do!!

I cut into my Mary Elizabeth Kinch Modern Country, and also some Anna Marie Horner Fibs and Fables .  Here's the first block, designed by Pat Sloan.

And the second, designed by Jane Davidson.

If you decide to join in, they have a closed Facebook page where you can post your progress & talk to other quilters working on Splendid.  I think it will be a lot of fun.  I'm going to look forward to the release of the next blocks.  When you go to their website, be sure to look at all the free projects & tutorials they are providing as well---some of that looks great!

Even if you don't want to do it now, save the pdf files, while they're free---eventually they are going off the website and into a book that promises to be spectacular.

It was a busy week, with two of my groups meeting, lots of fun, but maybe not quite as much sewing as I would like.  I did get one new Chuck Nohara block done also.  It was pretty challenging, and I used paper piecing and applique on the same block.  The math for my five-inch blocks was a little tight, requiring use of eighths of an inch to make things fit.  It's done and I'll take it!

And before I go, here's a cute little squirrel, off to meet her friends for coffee.... My friend from guild, Denise, shared this onto my Facebook wall for me & I think it's pretty cute.  She's so stylish.  Just like me.