Getting Back to Normal !! And...Some Big News!

Well, I have two new graduates as of a few weeks ago! The Middle Daughter has graduated from Iowa State and has already started work. The Youngest Daughter has graduated from high school and is off to volunteer at a YL camp for a month. They are both so happy well adjusted kids and I am so proud!

We are empty nesters for a while. Hubs is traveling for work and I am vending, so we'll miss each other for one of our empty nest weeks! LOL! After such a busy spring, we have vowed to do something fun together, so we'll work on that when we both get home next week!

Since we had the graduation parties in our home, the above picture shows my sewing room...a mess once again, all squished to one end of the room and hidden by a partition during the party. I was happy to rearrange last year for so many good reasons, but I sooooo look forward to putting it together and leaving it that way! I have a good start on the process, but it's all a mess again as I start to pack for my vending trip to The Minnesota Quilters Show in St. Cloud, MN. Will anyone be there? Let me know if you are coming and look me up if so! I hear it's a wonderful show and I can't wait to see it in person! If you are up for a road trip the dates of the event are June 12-14. Please introduce yourself to me if you make it to the show!

I have had to throw another iron away. This will be the third one in about 6 months. They don't make them like they used to! Of course, part of my problem may be that I am using old irons. I am one who likes an iron to stay on while I am doing my thing in the sewing room. I have not been able to find a new one that works as well as my old Rowenta...which was so old, it smelled like an electrical fire waiting to happen. Recently, I was at my local designer big box store and found a $17 iron with no auto shut off picture on the box! I couldn't believe it! It is very small compared to my old faithful, but it gets hot...and does not turn off!!!! I love it! It's the Black and Decker F210 model. It appears there are some with the auto shut off feature, so maybe they only carry this one in the store. I better go get another one to have on hand! That feature is important to me, and I have been looking for months and months. I'm so happy I found one! To make sure it is off as I leave the room, I always use a stip extension cord with a switch. I also leave a light on and plugged into the same strip cord. When I flip the switch off to turn off the light, I am assured the iron is off also. That's my safety system I have used for over 20 years. So far so good!

So, you are probably wondering what the big news is? If you've read my blog for a while, you know I love English Paper Piecing, but you also know that I have a unique way of doing this! I use EPP for hexies and diamonds, traditional shapes, but also for blocks that are not traditionally EPP patterns. I have figured out a way that works for me to shortcut the basting with thread method. I have learned that I love to use starch and thick freezer paper (double layer of special freezer paper) to baste my shapes. One issue with some customers has been that some don't have interest in making the freezer paper shapes. (It's VERY easy though!).
SO, SOME of my big news is that I can now offer my customers my EPP patterns WITH the shapes cut out and ready to go! My patterns are not traditional EPP blocks and they are blocks that I would not want to attempt by machine because they are not easy blocks by machine, and I love handwork. Using the EPP method for these blocks makes them very easy and ENJOYABLE!! These papers can be used over and over when using my method for basting. I have used them up to 20 times or more before. ( It depends on how much lint your fabric has that sticks to the waxy side of the freezer paper.) I offer pin cushion patterns and a few quilt patterns using EPP. You could easily make a bunch of pin cushions, or, make a quilt using these same papers. I'm so excited to be able to offer these to you so that you can get started right away on your EPP projects!

These papers are available in the Pincushion Patterns and the Hexie Candy Mini Quilt currently and I will have them available in the near future for Life In The Midwest and A Warm Welcome. You can also choose to make your own as in the past. You can purchase HERE at my Website, www.TraditionalPrimitives.com if you are interested.
The OTHER big news is that I will now offer ALL of my Punchneedle Patterns WITH the printed weaver's cloth. This has been a work in progress for quite a while. I am so excited to have all of them ready and available for you with the stamped weaver's cloth included in the pattern. Now, when you receive your pattern you can start punching right away! The picture below shows an example of one of the printed designs, Primitive Pineapple Welcome.

You can find these HERE at www.TraditionalPrimitives.com if you are interested! Thanks for looking! (I do have a correction here...all but ONE design is available with the printed cloth temporarily)
With these tasks finalized I am so excited to get back to stitching! I promise I won't be missing in action any longer. My life is my own once again and I'll post more often once again!
Thanks so much for stopping by! I've missed chatting with you all. Please leave a comment to say hello! If your guild or store would like a workshop on my starch method of English Paper Piecing, along with all other methods of EPP, or another class, please write to me. I would be happy to send the information!
Take care,
Missie

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Small Group Show and Tell!

Table Talk Stitchers got together this week at my house. We meet once a month and have really gotten to know each other well in the year we have been stitching together. This week we had some fun projects at the table!

Mary has been diligently working on Yoko Saoto's mystery quilt from Quilt Mania Magazine! It is all quilted and ready to sew the binding down. Isn't it stunning! Here are a few detailed shots. I know she will be a ribbon winner again with this one! She is one of the finest quilters I know! It has been so great to get to know her better while stitching together in various groups.

The quilter she had work on it did some wonderfully creative stitching!

Such cute detail in this quilt...see the bluebird and pup?

And two little kitties...

Faux leather for some of the roof tops,

Cute little peacock couple...sittin' in the tree, K I S S I N G, first comes love, then comes marriage, then come the peacocks with a baby carriage!

We had a great time oooohing and aaahing over this quilt!

Char and Marcia bring wool appliqué to stitch on when they come! They both choose such darling projects to work on! It has been so fun to get to know these two ladies as well. Such sweethearts and so inspirational!

Char brought her cute chartruse purse used as a tote to carry her goodies. She also wore a chartruce colored sweater and happened to coordinate with her lovely stitching and supplies. Her Easter Matt is coming along nicely and will be ready to display in her home soon. See her cute little green box over on the right side that she carries her scissors and such in? Darling! And of course the little tote she stitched for her threads is Oh So Cute too!

 

And Marcia had a cute tote she made also. Her little mat is telling us spring will be here very soon. Such a cute little bumble bees! I am always impress with quilters who work ahead of the season! I am one who works on the past season...after Christmas, I make Christmas quilts, after Easter, I start an Easter project! Then I have to wait the whole year to enjoy it! LOL. Marcia will have this one done by the next time I see her! These girls are organized and I need it to rub off on me! :-D

 

I stitched on another pincushion. I need a few extras in different color ways. This one is poison green and lavender, with brown and creamy yellow accents. It's looking nice, I think, and will be a good addition to my collection! I love to make these...seems I never get tired of them! (You can see the rest of the designs available in my web store HERE). These are made using my English Paper Piecing technique with starch. So simple!

Next time we get together for some table Talk, I'll take a few more pictures to share from the other girls' projects to share with you. All of them are so talented.

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Take care,

Missie

 

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Found Some Time For Stitching!

I have been overwhelmed with office work recently and finally, I found some time for Stitching! It has been too long since I have held a needle! Before the Super Bowl I decided to prepare a small stack of little projects that have needed finishing for a long time.

This little Bethlehem Star Pincushion has been dragged all over the Midwest, then packed away until the next trip. Along the way I lost a few pieces, so I've prepared them using my starch method for English Paper Piecing. Finally I have finished putting it together and I hope to make it onto a pincushion today!

Next, in the pile was this little EPP strip which needed 3 more pieces to make it whole. It has been shown in progress many times...now I can move on to the next step!

These hexies below are EPP pieces I've made while doing the demo in the booth. I have just as many left over as you see here! I thought this size would make good mug rugs. I have stabilized them on fusible interfacing scraps. No pins to keep track of and very portable. Just a touch with the tip of the iron to the center and it holds them right in place until I am ready to grab that piece and sew! A little tug and it comes right off. Works really great. These interfacing pieces are reusable a few times. I will do this for the next pincushion so I don't loose any pieces! If you sew appliqué pieces down one at a time, this might be a good method to keep track of those pieces.

So far I have two little mug rugs stitched together. Yippee! It takes hardly any time to stitch them together once the pieces are prepared quickly with the starch. Next, I will add a bit of batting and a back and they will be ready to go! Seeing them in the picture makes me think this would make a cute pin cushion as well!

The next block in the pile was this heart made of hexies. These pieces were also made while doing my demo. I made most of these red and white hexies while in Lee's Summit, MO and Oklahoma City. I wonder if I have any new visitors from those shows checking in today? You can see I need a few more pieces, but you get the idea of the heart I hope!

After sewing a few pieces together, I decided I am not the hexie heart kind of gal, so I did some shifting and decided to go with red and white stripes. I think this will be a cute little display to show while vending in Independence, MO next weekend over Valentine's Day. Then I can use it in my home on my wall of quilts or even during the Christmas season next year. One can never have too many mini quilts! Haha! If you are headed to the Calico Cut Ups Show in Independence, MO, please come say hello to me!

I see the lower left corner that I have stitched together is a bit cockeyed, but you get the idea! See that little candy cane I layed out on the right with a few extra pieces? This will be a cute ornament for my tree next year!

The Olympics have officially begun. Enjoy the games for the next few weeks and keep your stitching handy! We are still having super cold temps and will get a few more inches of snow today! Stay warm and stitch as much as you can!

Take care,

Missie

 

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For The Ones I Love...<3

We've had a busy week in this household with flu's and such! Even Ginger seems to be a little blue...I couldn't get her to wake up to smile for you! She is so relaxed in her bed. Earlier she jumped up on the couch to help Katie feel better...snuggled right up next to her to give her some love! She knows she isn't allowed on the couches, but since she was on a quilt, I let her be next to the one she was lovin' on at the moment.

So glad the weekend is here and we can look forward to brighter days this coming week! Last night, while playing nurse to my hubs and daughter, I made this little pin cushion. It was super fast and super easy...ready for the one(s) I love to see this morning and know I hope they feel better soon!

 

You can make this pin cushion if you'd like...just jot down these instructions or come back when you are ready to sew. Draw a 4" square onto freezer paper. Draw and X from corner to corner on the paper. Cut it apart and also cut on the diagonal lines. Iron 2 freezer paper triangles to purple wool and 2 freezer paper triangles to blue wool. Cut them out nice and neat.

Then draw a heart on freezer paper about 1 1/2" long (or email me and I will send it to you!) on freezer paper and then iron it onto red wool and cut out on the line. Cut a red wool square 4 3/4" and set aside. Cut a tan wool square 5" and set aside.

Hold one blue and one purple square wrong sides together and whip stitch one of the short sides together. Pull them slightly taught so they hold the fabric together well.

Repeat for the other two triangles. Lay them out first to make sure you will be sewing the correct seams together. Then sew the two pieces together the same way, making an hour glass block with the whip stitch seams facing the right side. Lay this pieced square on top of the red wool square and whip stitch the edges being careful to keep it square as you sew. Trim the red wool square a scant 1/4" away from the hour glass block.

 

Next, place the red heart in the center and whip stitch it in place leaving a straight side open to stuff with a cotton ball. It only takes one! Tuck all the cotton in nice and neat and finish stitching the heart in place.

Finally lay the pin cushion top onto the tan square. Again, whip stitch the edge onto the tan wool, keeping it nice and straight as you stitch. Leave part of one side open, stuff slightly and finish sewing the pin cushion closed. Trim the tan wool about 1/4" away from the red square. Now you can think of the One You Love as you display this pincushion this Valentine season.

I hope you are staying warm! We're supposed to get some snow today! Then maybe 8”+ next week! It's definitely winter around here!

Take care,

Missie

 

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"Grow Your Blog!!!" Welcome To My Blog! And...The Winner Is....

Hello to all the new visitors who are stopping by my blog for the first time! Welcome! My name is Missie and I am so glad you have come by today. I love Quilting, doing Punchneedle Embroidery, Wool Appliqué and English Paper Piecing...these are my favorite hobbies! I have turned my hobbies into a business most of my days since I became a mother in order to stay home with the kids.

And here they are, all grown up for the most part...and I am still doing the small hobby business! I love it! That's Hubs and I in the center, surrounded by our three daughters and our son-in-law. I thought once the kids were grown I would have so much time on my hands, but you all know how that goes! Seems there is never enough time to do all the stitching that I want to do...so the list keeps growing and growing! How about you? How long is your list?

I thought I would take a moment to write a bit about my window coverings today. I have had so many questions about them recently! We moved into this house in August and it was so sunny in the mornings...we could hardly keep our eyes open! Haha! We needed something to keep the sun out and these coverings came to mind. I used to sew window treatments for the decorating store for about 9 years, but I never made curtains for circular windows. Yes, they are quilts...machine appliqué and quilted. I was really into quilts when we moved here ( and still am!) and that was the first thing that came to mind. I made the quilted panel a bit larger than the window, which is huge for a window, I might add. Each of these is 58" wide at the bottom. They are much larger than they look way up there! The quilt design was made specifically for these windows and I expanded it into a full sized quilt a few months later. That quilt is now the logo for my business and is one of my favorites. I think it's the red background I like so much! Then again, I do like stars too!

After the quilted panels were made they were ready to be mounted on something....that something took a while to figure out, but eventually we decided to see if PVC pipe would bend well enough. We got two elbow joints and flexible PVC along with some stiffer PVC. It took a while to cut the two pieces the correct length in order to bend in the shape of the window, but we started with the bendable PVC cut a bit larger than we needed and trimmed an eighth of an inch away until it bent and fit in the window just right! Basically, the PVC is joined and bent to look like a capitol "D" if it were turned on it's side. It was very simple!

Then it was time to attach the quilt to the frame that would fit into the window. I decided to cover the PVC with foam insulation built for these pipes. This allowed the frame to fit snug in the window frame and they fit perfectly after a bit more trimming. Then the quilts were trimmed the shape of the frame with about 4" extra in size. To attach the quilt to the frame, I just rolled the quilts to the backside and pinned them in place with a straight pin! Voila'! They are still keeping the sun out of our eyes just fine! We had plans of taking them down now and then to let the sunlight in. We did this for a while, but had to stand on a chair to reach them and eventually we just left them up all the time. I should also say that we added a large piece of cardboard to keep the sun from shining through the needle holes from the quilting. If I were to make another set someday, I might try it without quilting to see if this fixed the problem. That was quite the long story I just wrote! So sorry about that, but as I said, so many have been asking about them recently. Since a few have asked, I will let you know you can buy this quilt pattern on my website if you are interested. Now everyone can get some PVC and make their own! If you do, be sure to send a picture! I'd love to see your version!

 

For the first time visitors, these two mini quilts were just published in the current issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects Magazine. Bluebirds and Berries arrived home safe and sound this week from the offices of Primitive Quilts and Projects! It was so nice to have them both in my hands again. The needlepunched version is the dark one and the light version is the wool and cotton version. I will have to get them up on a wall soon so I can enjoy them! Now that they are back home, It is time to draw the name of the winner of the year subscription that Primitive Quilts and Projects has so graciously donated for the drawing!

The winner is... Ronnie! Congratulations and thanks so much for following along with my blog Ronnie! Look for an email from me so I can get your information!

I truely appreciate all of my followers and wish I could give you each a year's subscription to the magazine. Since Ronnie is the only winner of the subscription, why don't the rest of you newcomers please find your way to my website if you wish, and find two free patterns on the Wool Pattern Page that you can download. The link to my website is just under the button for this Blog Hop on the right side bar. (While you are at the sidebar, notice I have a former blog...be sure to check that one out. It has many more posts!) For those of you who have followed for a while now, look for a new freebie pincushion on the wool page next week! I will be posting about it next.

 

One of the freebie patterns is a Valentine Pincushion that you can see peeking from inside the basket above. The other freebie is a block called Woolie Tree. I have challenged my blogging buddies, and that includes those who don't blog but like to follow along, to make this block using up those tiny wool scraps we all seem to have a bag of laying around. I have been so busy I've hardly started mine, but it is on my list I mentioned earlier. Have any of you long time followers started this yet? Let's keep it on our lists and see what we can get done in the coming weeks.

Thanks so much for stopping to read the blog today. If you are here with the hop, I'd love to have you join my site as a follower. After all we are trying to grow our blogs! If you sign up to follow, please let me know you've done so and by which method you will be following. It's hard to tell how many followers we really have these days since Google has changed the reader. I like to use my dashboard to keep updated, as I have always done...keeps it simple for me. My preferred way to follow is by clicking "join this site". Then I can keep up on things by accessing my dashboard. How about you?

The organizer of this blog hop will have a list of the blogs joining in posted on her own blog, 2 Bags Full. Thank you Vicki! Be sure to stop by her blog to find a few more blogs to follow. Again, Welcome and Thanks for stopping by today! I hope to see you all here again soon!

Take Care,

Missie

 

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Happy New Year!

It's that time when we ring out the old and ring in the new year! It has been a whirlwind of a year for me and I sort of hate to see 2013 go, but I know exciting things are coming for 2014 so I will go with the flow!

As I think about my goals for next year, I have pondered on my goals for this past year and all that I got accomplished. The year was filled with teaching and vending...two things I have not done for quite a while, nor had I done in the quilting industry. I have learned that I do enjoy these activities very much as I get to share the fun things I love about quilting, stitching and punching! These activities have taken me to Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and in between a few places. I plan on spreading my wings a bit more this year to build my little business. It is such fun to spread the Joy of Quilting to others! Once again, I thank all of you who inspire me to continue with this journey!

Winter 2013 brought a change in our lives as we moved our oldest DD and SIL far away from home to Augusta, GA. We had a great week together painting and decorating their new home so they would feel right at home quickly! It involved a modern touch, which was new for me to help with, but I really enjoyed making their new quilt in that style for them.

 

Winter also brought lots of work designing small sized projects for my pattern business. I tend to love working on large quilts and the plan to make small quilts was a nice challenge. They were made of Cottons and Wools, along with a few Punchneedle Mini Quilts! I made patterns for a total of 15 smaller projects in 2013! There are a few of them pictured below. You can see all of my patterns on my website at TraditionalPrimitives.com.

 

Spring 2013 brought work on Josie's Petals, a design for Blackberry Primitives Wool Company. Cindi and Tanja took her to Market in Portland to hang in their booth. It will be in a French Magazine this coming year!

Spring also brought work on the English Paper Piecing Workshops and Pincushions. It was exciting to get these ready so that I could begin teaching and sharing about English Paper Piecing in my unique method as well as the traditional method.

The weekend in Nebraska with The Quilted Crow Girls was in the Spring as well...Leonie, Deardre, Julie (Me and My Stitches), Lynn ( More Sew For You) and I shared many giggles and fun along with learning the Crow Girls way of doing wool appliqué.

Summer 2013 brought work on Pennies In My Garden wool appliqué quilt. It was so fun to find out how quickly this quilt goes when sewing it. Even though it is made by hand, the buttonhole stitching on the circles in 12" blocks went super fast!

 

Summer also brought the interview with Pat Sloan Radio! It was a great experience to be part of! You can listen to it if you wish...just find my name in June's listings on her radio website.

Much of my spare time was spent helping hand quilt the DMAQG Show Quilt!

Summer was the time that I decided to change my company name from Hallbrook Designs to Traditional Primitives and when I got the new website and blog switched over and running. (Take notice, my old email will be going away in a few days! Be sure to save my new contact info if you have not done so already! I look forward to making the new blog just as informative as the old blog. You can still access any old posts by the way...just click on the right sidebar for the link.)

Fall 2014 brought teaching and road trips for Vending and Trunk Shows in a few stores:

Eastern Iowa at Inspirations, a great little quilt store in Hills, IA; The Rabbit's Lair, a great store in Rogers, AR; Pierre, SD for teaching at a wonderful weekend retreat; Lees Summit, MO for a great quilt show and more. I hope to add more pinpoints to this map in 2014! It will begin in only a few days with my trip to Oklahoma City to vend in the Winter Quilt Show...let the adventure Begin!

Winter 2013 brought some catch up time and basic sewing I needed to complete. I have been working on my own Josie's Petals since Blackberry Primitives owns the original.

And I've also begun work on the next big quilt I plan on making! It has been a challenge so far...can't wait to show you more!

My sewing room is just about in order...the wall of little quilts is up, the new quilting machine is up and running well and my sewing space is slowly coming together. It sure has taken me a while to get things in order, but I am working on it when I can. Only a few more days and I can show you... I know it's taking forever! Perhaps the organization of my sewing room will be the last sewing related thing I complete in 2013!

It was a great year of blogging fun and pattern designing fun for me. I certainly hope your 2013 was as much fun as my year. Cheers to a wonderful 2014!!! Let's make it great!

Take Care,

Missie

 

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