Wisteria pillow top

Wow, finally got my camera working! I am lost without it! I measured out 14" of a dark check.....turquoise and green very dark......for background of my pillow top.
I placed all of the fabrics that I shall use on top of the background fabric, choosing from light blue to med. purple at the bottom. I had several shades of lavender to choose from. The more the better.
I found a piece of hand dyed lime green fabric that goes from light to dark green for the stem. I used a quarter inch bias bar to make the stem. (see picture or check Jan 8th 2010 blog for directions for using bias bars. Tomorrow I'll start making the petals of the wisteria. Keep a check on my blog for further pictures.

Wisteria flower blossom for a pillow top

I think you'll love doing this pillow top. Start with a 12" block of any background fabric you wish. The lighter the fabric, the easier it is to see the pattern through it to trace the lines. If you have a light box (that they have at some fabric shops and also craft stores, you'll be able to see the lines nicely. Enlarge the pattern to fit inside the 12" block.
Trace the pattern using a light pencil or a washable pen.
Make a center stem using a bias bar and a pretty shade of green fabric. I shall make my at least 14". (Directions for using a bias bar are on my blog Jan. 8, 2010.)
Choose shades of lavender, pale blue, and light purple for the blossoms.
Next week I'll put pictures of my project, so you can watch me do this project. My camera is on the fritz or I would show you today! MERCY!
Just get all of your supplies ready, and we'll get this done very soon.

Signature Quilts

Yesterday, we gave our "Signature quilt" to our retiring President of the Quilt Guild here in Florida. She was overwhelmed by it all. It turned out so pretty once we got the machine quilting done on it. The squares were not all perfect, but, neither are we! The sentiments were written with Pigma pens, and that means it will last forever.
One bit of advice for anyone wishing to make one for a friend, be sure that you use the Pigma Pens that state: Archival ink, acid free. Otherwise, some inks will eat right through the fabric. The usual black pens that you pick up at the stores, usually ARE NOT filled with ARCHIVAL INK. Steer away from them!
Another very important thing is to have all of the squares measure exactly the same size. It is wise to give each person a pattern that has the 1/4" seam allowance added, and then request them to use only a 1/4" seam.
Ironing "freezer paper" to the back of the area that people are going to write their sentiments on, will also help the penmanship to be much more readable.
Using the pattern that I put in the newspaper or the one that is on this blog, the center piece, MUST BE the same size, or the points will not match up. Have someone cut out ALL OF THE CENTERS out of the same fabric and iron the freezer paper on them BEFORE giving them to the others to add the triangles to each side. This will certainly make a nicer square and a nicer quilt.
Time was of essence when we were making our signature quilt, and we didn't have time to get this last step done for them. I'll save you a lot of trouble when making yours by heeding my advice!

Seasonal Quilt- Easter Egg Basket

Easter is coming April 24th. This is such a beautiful time of the year. My Seasonal quilt will have many pretty things on it for Spring. Silk flowers pinned to the plain blocks, birthday pictures of those family members celebrating an April birthday. This Easter egg basket may be made out of paper or felt, and pinned to the plain block. Real plastic eggs may be inserted in it to give a 3D effect. If you wish to write grandchildren's names or children's names on the eggs first, this will be a surprise for them to see their egg on the quilt. Be sure to make the Scrappy bunny. It will be in the paper on April 6. I'll put it on the blog, too. It makes an adorable children's quilt. Just making one Scrappy Bunny for the Seasonal Quilt will be fun, too.
Happy Days!

Pattern for 12" Lover's Knot classic block

Lover's Knot construction

I put the patterns for this block in the newspaper. Here is the method of construction. The pattern is given above.

QUILTERS BEWARE!

Thought this sounded like something all quilters should know about........not a good thing to use, I'm afraid! Below is an email from a friend who thought I'd like to share this with my bloggers...........B

This email came from a friend of mine who took a quilt cruise with Carol Doak.
Some of you may have heard about this pen. You may not want to use it.

This email was on our chat forum from the Carol Doak foundation cruise group. Feel free to mail it to other quilters.
Too good to be true; I'm glad someone tested it, even through the washing process. It sure could ruin a quilt!
Sidney Smith
My fellow teacher Charlotte Anderson shared this bit of info and I know this pen was discussed recently on the cruise.

I thought I'd give you all a heads up about Frixion Erasable pens. A student showed me hers at Road to California in January. She drew a line, thin but quite black, and then ironed it and the line totally disappeared. It looked like the coolest thing ever!

So I went in search of these pens, which you can get a Staples. I bought the pack that has three colors in it - black, red and blue. Being quite the skeptic about things that are too good to be true, I read the back of the package. In small print it says: "Do not expose to extreme temperatures (<14degrees F;> 140 degrees F). If pen is exposed to temperature that reaches 140 degrees F the ink will be colorless when writing. To restore color, cool to at least 14 degrees F and the ink will again write in color."

Aha! I said to myself. If you iron the ink it's going to be way over 140 degrees so it's going to disappear. So I took some fabric and scribbled on it with all three colors. Then I ironed it and, sure enough, all the scribbles disappeared. But then I put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes and all the lines reappeared. I left it for about a week and a half while I went travelling and today I tried to wash the ink out. It didn't come out with soap and hard scrubbing and not even after I put rubbing alchohol on it. So then I ironed the piece dry and all the lines disappeared and then it went back to the freezer and all the lines reappeared (perhaps just a bit fainter).

This experiment was enough to persuade me that these pens are too good to be true and even sort of creepy - the ink is always there even if you can't see it. I wouldn't use them on any fabric or quilt you really cared about.

If I had a blog I would have put this on there but since I don't any of you who want to pass on what I've written can feel free to copy and paste this post.