Pinterest Friendly Site

To let everyone know I do enjoy work from my blog being shared, I found the Pinterest Friendly Blog button from Jennie over at Clover and Violet and added it to my sidebar.

Like Jennie, I have only a few guidelines I ask you to follow when Pinning::

1. When pinning tutorial photos, please only pin photos of the completed project.
2. Always link back to my blog or website, and the specific post of the picture. For interesting details on proper Pinterest Etiquette, see My Three Boybarians
3. Basically, give credit where credit is due when sharing anything!
4. If you pin one of my photos, please leave a comment as I would love to know about it!

Here are Darcy's Excellent Pinterest Netiquette Guidelines:

 

Liebster Award

I am honored to be a Liebster Award nominee thanks to Nina, a super friendly quilter over at http://dietingononeleg.blogspot.com/ . It has a few requirements, so now it is time for me to tackle them. Seems it will be a bit of a test in 'Linky knowledge' for a newbie like me! To qualify for the nomination, a blog must have less than 200 followers or me less than six months old. A blogger then earns the award by writing a post to include the following info:

1. List 11 random things about yourself.
2. Answer 11 questions posed by the nominator.
3. Choose 11 blogs to pass the award on to and link them to your post. ( I am still working on this!)
4. Create 11 questions for those 11 people to answer.

Perhaps my nominees will have more visits to their sites if I list those first:
 

http://beckyquiltobsession.blogspot.com

http://inchbyinchquilting.blogspot.ca
http://duckeggthreads.blogspot.com
http://theupsanddownsofquilting.blogspot.com 

http://lizmakesstuff.blogspot.com
http://quiltingadventuresofaginger.blogspot.com/
http://irishthredhead.blogspot.ie/
http://quiltingbythesea-sarah.blogspot.com/

Questions for my nominees to answer:
1. Cats or Dogs?
2. AM or PM person?
3. Sand or Snow?
4. Floral or Plaid?
5. Warm or Cool colors?
6. Favorite Flower?
7. Who would you like to have lunch with if you could?
8. Hotel or tent?
9. Your first quilt pattern?
10. How many UFO's do you have stashed?
11. What is missing in your fabric stash?

Nina asked me the following questions:

1. Are you a coffee or tea drinker? I began drinking coffee at 42 years of age. Who says we gain wisdom with age?
2. Name one quilt or pattern that is on your "some day" list. I love Pineapple Quilts and have yet to make one
3. Do you live in the city or the country? Often referred to as 'Hendertucky', there are a lot of horses in my hood. I suppose it is country when you compare it to The Strip 25mi away.
4. What are your favorite and least favorite parts of blogging? Time seems to slide by when at the computer, but I am enjoying sharing techniques and conversing with bloggers,
5. Where (sewing room, dining room, etc.) do you sew? I have a bedroom i refer to as my 'studio'. My husband lined the walk-in with shelves for my Pallette. Here I am pictured in my studio
6. When you are not sewing or working, what activity do you do? Swim Swim Swim - Except in December and January! Brrr!
7. Do you sew in the quiet or is a radio or TV playing? What is it playing? I have enjoyed just thinking about this question. Equal time I'd say between quiet (in AM), TV (Only mindless TV that does not actually have to be watched, like news or sappy movies, and only when no major thinking is going on - say piecing or cutting). Music is a huge part of my life, and I tend to choose what relates to the mood I want to create in the quilt. I am listening to music during most design aspects; color palettes, arrangements, free motion quilting, etc.. Mood music includes Blues, Indie, Rock. I love female vocalists with some funk such as Rickie Lee Jones, Indigo Girls, Jonatha Brooke, PJ Harvey, Bjork, Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, Carol King, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Norah Jones, Sade, Billie Holiday, Abbey Lincoln - I could go on and on! Currently on the turntable is Sergio Mendes
8. Have you ever been to a quilt convention or retreat and if so, what did you like most about it? Although I have been to a few shows, I've yet to attend a retreat or convention.
9. Name a historical figure that you admire. Not necessarily an historical figure, I really admire swimmer  Diana Nyad  
10. Would you rather spend a day at a spa or a day at a fabric store? I have never spent a day at the spa, so I guess I would like to try it out before I answer that!
11. Do you like to ride roller coasters? The Roller Coaster of Life usually offers the thrill i need:-)

Hmm, 11 Random things about myself:

1. I currently have no pets.
2. I cut my hair off when it started going gray a couple years ago, and now it is in a very awkward, growing-back-out stage. What in the world came over me?
3. I have not used an alarm clock in years. I tend to wake with light, and would be seriously sleep deprived if I lived in Alaska,
4. I love the look of a light bedroom, but I keep mine very dark...
5. My Great Grandmother lived 104yrs. I last spoke with her when I was 16. She was a tough woman who did not speak of ailment. I learned after her death that she had 70% body burns after falling in a Montana geyser while camping when she was 17.
6. I am the youngest of six kids.
7. I avoided Home Ec throughout school, however my Grandmother was a Home Ec teacher. I regret that she never knew the passion I developed for sewing i developed shortly after her death.
8. I have always favored the arts and taught Raku classes in High School. I really wanted to be a potter, but took engineering courses in college since it seemed more practical.
9. I am not as practical as I used to be.
10. Salmon, Blackberries and Artichokes are among my favorite foods.
11. Yes, I am from the beautiful Pacific Northwest!

Small Blog Meet

I found this list of Small Blogs by Quilter's over at Lily's Quilts a couple days ago and spent some time surfing some of the sites. It is so easy to get wrapped in all the quilts and how to's - I am hooked! I have added my name to the list since I qualify with fewer than 50 followers. If you are a small quilt blog, you can also write a post about this feature, add a button and link up:

<div align="center"><a href="http://lilysquilts.blogspot.co.uk" title="Lily's Quilts"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjzyV2pdEfxh92kUlxYbCqENUa1sEGTUF8qGu9rFJk7uIRWC9Q3vuRIzk2kbZlMrAFeRiN9y4rzbGdq9DM5ZsJ3KodstbbzSKqeCOZ7M0c8MscMFn0hcu5GurT_4fkvbNDAioKiPNiSqoZ/s150/SBMB.png" alt="Lily's Quilts" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Take some time to check out Lily's site, as well as some of the sites on the Small Blog Meet list!

 

8 Point LeMoyne Star Tutorial - No Y Seams!

Tuesday I attended my first meeting with a local quilt group called Boulder City Cut-Ups. This was actually the first time I have ever packed up my machine (purchased in about 92) to sew outside my home. I felt very welcomed, and although it was well attended, plenty of space was made for me. We were instructed to bring some red, white, and blue fabrics for this month's project. Mary Lou demonstrated for us a technique for the LeMoyne Star with no inset seams. Gotta Love it!

Food for thought before we begin: For this block, I used dark thread for stitch visibility, however I probably would have anyway. For dark stars, I usually do use dark thread. If any seams were to show their threads on this type of block, it is most likely to happen in the center of the dark star where a white thread would really pop out. This to me is a bigger risk than the thread showing through the seam of the white...

Here is how it was done:

Nifty Method - A Quilt Block Tutorial

These Blocks were easy! A friend told me about a fun way to cut and sew these with no templates, little measuring, and great accuracy.

 

 Start with two contrasting fabrics that are just larger than the finished size you would like your block to be and press them right sides together.

 

Trim them to the size of your finished block

 

Cut a Post-It to 1/4 the width of the fabric. (1.5" for a 6" block!). Begin stitching at the Post-It, stitch down one side, turn at the 1/4", and continue stitching the 2nd side to the end.

 

Repeat this for sides 3 and 4.

 

Slice the block diagonally where stitching intersects.

 

Stack one triangle exactly on top of the other. (Each with the same color facing up)

 

Without moving the stack, make two cuts the same distance from corner edges as your Post-It.

 

Open all your pieces, press seams and arrange.

 

Join in three rows, then sew rows together matching intersections. Your block will look like this yellow one and will need those corners trimmed to finished block size.

 

Here are my blocks joined, as they are now on my design wall. I have a great multi color batik for the back and binding, and I am considering a wavy border:-)

Enjoy!

 

One Step at a Time

Well, I am up and running here, and it only took a couple hours to go through all the different options for setting up my blogsite!

My resolutions for 2013 all share a common goal to increase involvement in the community of quilting.
I've enjoyed reading many a blog for inspiration over the years and I would like to share ideas and projects as well. I look forward to posting some of my own projects, a tutorial here and there, and progress I make gaining involvement within my local quilting community here in Southern Nevada.