Sharp Points with Blanket Stitch

Hey Everyone! I've been missing in action again with a super busy schedule of vending at quilt shows and family stuff. I just finished up my last show for a little while and I'm glad to be home to get some work done for a few weeks! The last show was right here near home and it was nice to be able to sleep in my own bed and have a friend help one day and my middle daughter home the next day. Unfortunately I didn't think to get a picture this time! And I even set up the booth a little bit differently. Oh well, I'll be sure to add TAKE PHOTOS to my to do list next time! I would have loved to have a picture of Melanie since she won't get to help again for a while as she is moving away shortly. We'll miss her being nearby.

Since having a few days at home, I've been able to do a little stitching on my next design. This quilt will be similar to Pennies In My Garden, but the "pennies" will be diamond shaped this time around.

As I'm stitching the cotton and wool layers together, I've figured out a better way to make sharp points when using the blanket stitch. I've prepared my cotton shapes using the starch method I use for EPP basting. Usually I prefer Needleturn for Applique, but I am learning to love the crisp sewing edges that come with basting with starch. It makes sewing the Applique down effortless for the most part! These pre set points also help make a better point, but the stitching is also important. I'm sure I will still use Needleturn Applique in the future, but for this quilt, I'm enjoying using my Starch Brush to prepare the seam allowances. Now back to the sharp points...

After reaching the point and pulling the last blanket stitch tight, I'm taking another very tiny blanket stitch right at the point. The thread I prefer using for wool Applique is Genziana so it is very thin compared to floss or pearl cotton. This may too bulky of a stitch to take at the end of a point if you use floss or pearl cotton, but it's worth a try to make a sharp point.

Next I'm using the needle to tuck under any seam allowance poking out from behind the Applique shape.

Then I'm holding the tip with the hidden seam allowance very firm so that seam allowance won't poke out again!

Then proceed with a few more stitches. New topic for a moment... Notice the blue wool point above the one I'm discussing and how it is a bit bulging out of the stitches? I'm going to trim that excess away very carefully. Notice in the next picture how much better it looks compared the the picture above.

In this pic you can see how nice the red cotton fabric point looks with this locking blanket stitch after its stitched. You can also compare this point to the yello point with no locking stitch. (Yes, I'll go back and lock that one!). And finally you can compare the blue wool point in this picture to the previous picture to compare points before and after a trim.

Just a little tid bit of info I've learned lately. Hope it helps you also!

Take care,

Missie

 

Visit my web store www.TraditionalPrimitives.com

And the Days Keep Passing By!

Well, it seems lots of time has passed since I've last posted. I've been vending at another 2 shows...first Minnesota and then the new Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival. The booth looks about the same, but a little bit different each time I set it up.

The KC show was especially fun because two of my college girlfriends were my helpers. They are non sewers and I'll say they did a great job. By the end of the weekend they knew how to answer a few questions! It's fun to let them see what I do for my "job" and I was proud to show them! I've been a stay at home mom for so many years, I finally feel like a working woman like many of my college friends! That's Chris on the left and Julie on the right...thanks girls!

I made a little FB post on the way down as I sang "Kansas City here I come, right back where I started from..." Explaining that once upon a time I started my adult life in KC. I met my husband there and after we were married we lived in Lawrence, KS. We worked and played and started our family, had a bad babysitter experience and I became a stay at home mom. It didn't take too long until I needed something to keep me busy with the baby sleeping much of the time and my mom suggested I take a lesson of some sort. Well, that lesson was quilting! I took my first quilting lesson at stitch On Needlework Shop. A few years ago I became reacquainted with the owner, Leslie, who taught me to quilt. It's fun to bump into her at shows now and then and of course, she was vending at the KC Show since it is so close to Lawrence. Be sure to stop by her store if you are in the area! She is still spreading the joy of quilting with others!

A few rows over I ran into Sarah's Fabrics, also from Lawrence. After the quilting lesson, I learned to do English Smocking from one of the teachers there. This shop has a bit of a modern feel and offers lovely fabrics like Liberty Of London prints. Smocking kept me busy for quite a few years. People would see my baby in those unique smocked clothes and eventually started asking me to sew for them. I did custom smocked clothing for children for about 9 years, hosted a fashion show or two and also self published a little catalog for ladies to custom build the outfits. Kept me busy all right! This store is right across the street from Stitch On so be sure to stop by both shops if you wander into town.

I'm so grateful that I was able to take lessons from these ladies at these stores way back when. These ladies may not know it, but they have influenced my life in a very positive way. Now that I teach and share my joy for quilting, I sure hope I pass along some of the same positive vibes to women across the country.

After the show in KC, I detoured to be with my parents for a while. My mom broke her hip a few weeks ago and I'm glad I can help them now that she is home from rehab. She is improving daily and will be running around with her busy schedule very soon, I'm sure! While home, I stopped in at The Quilted Cow in Branson West. They are in a new location and it looks great. The fabrics selection is very good and the decor so cute! This fabric bolt holder in the top left photo is just darling...wish I had one in my studio to hold "stuff". They have a little cafe area for coffee and (husbands) and the check out area has lots of character also.

Since I had my car loaded with all of my show goodies, including quilts, the owner asked if they could show some of my quilts. If you happen to be in the area between now and July 4th, stop by to see a few Of my quilts in person and visit this lovely quilt shop in person!

Next stop will be at the Ankeny Qyult show near Des Moines on July 10 & 11. Hope to see some of you there!

Take care and happy stitching,

Missie

 

Visit my web store www.TraditionalPrimitives.com

Needles...Makes A Difference!

Today I wanted to share with you a bit about needles. Many people have asked me what needles I like to use for different types of sewing. As a novice, I didn't think it mattered much, but as I got more experienced, I realized a good needle really makes a difference!

I have had my own brand of needles made.   You can buy them HERE!

 I use a size 10 or 11 depending on the light available at the time.  These two needles feel the same as they glide through the fabric, nice and smooth. They work well for Applique because they are thin enough to leave no hole in the side of the fold while stitching. A very nice smooth needle turned edge!

For English Paper Piecing I like the very same needles. They glide through the edges of the two pieces and the narrowness of the needle will not leave much of a hole. There is one difference here. If I am sewing the pieces together WITH the paper in, I use the size 10, which is a larger needle. The larger size will resist going through the paper and thus you can reuse your papers, plus, the stitches won't show on the front after the two pieces are sewn together. If I am sewing the pieces together WITHOUT the papers inside the pieces, which you know is possible if you've seen my starch basting method, I use a size 11 so that the needle can glide right through the edges of the pieces and will not show on the front. These needles are great for my handwork Piecing and Applique needs!

In the picture above you will notice that I also have branded Wool Applique Needles.  These are longer, sharper and thinner than most designers use for wool applique.  I like a sharp needle that I can hold onto and these work great!

The new Punch Needle And Primitive Stitching magazine arrived and I am excited to share my project fearured in the magazine, the Memory Keeper Journal Cover. Looks like this will be another great primitive magazine for all of us who love that touch of Prim! There are many darling projects in this Premier Issue!

L

Thanks for stopping by!
Take care,
Missie

Visit my web store www.TraditionalPrimitives.com

Spring Quilt Market 2015

How Exciting Spring Quilt Market was for me and my hard working helper, my sweet Hubs! I told him over and over that I could not have done it without him to lift and reach and carry and of course act as my assistant while I was busy doing the Starch Basting Demo for English Paper Piecing. I thank him for his continued support and encouragement to follow my dreams through the years! We spent a few days on vacation before Quilt Market and here's a picture of my Sweet Hubs! (I never really think of him being so tall until I see us in pictures together!)

He was able to just reach up easily to assemble the pipes and drapes and hang the quilts! It's nice to have an extra foot in height for jobs like these! It really helped the booth go together very quickly! In the photo below we still has a bit of work to do, but you can see it looks pretty much the same as when I vend at shows, but there is only patterns sitting out on the table.

After we set the booth up we went to a heavy restaurant to gain some energy before Sample Spree. As we left for dinner, the lines were already forming to get in! They had several lines forming as we returned and must have let folks into the room in an orderly fashion from all of the various waiting lines.

For a display during Sample Spree, which is very basic and not as fancy as the booth area of Quilt Market, I made poster prints of many of my patterns and hung them from a home made pipe structure. I think it showed the store owners a bit of what I offer and the display worked very well!

When Quilt Market opened, it was busy pretty early on since I was in the first row. My booth was located all the way at the end of the first row and at first I felt I would be lost in the huge room, but after being there a while, I realized that shoppers keep organized and hit all the spots at Quilt Market so they don't miss anything! I'm sure glad they found me! It was fun to show them my English Paper Piecing Basting method so they can share it with customers. So fun to see how excited people get once they see it happen so easily! I know the woman in the photo below is saying..."What is on her finger?" A common question when I demo the technique!

I met many new friends from all over the world! Some I know from Face Book and others are brand new friends in the industry who are willing to offer any advice to help a "newbie" in the industry.

And still others were Shop owners from my own state. It's nice to see friendly faces wherever they are from!

Overall, Quilt Market was a success for my little business. I gained several magazine contracts and several more types of industry activities are "in the works"! I met so many wonderful people and look forward to getting to know them better as we work together in one way or another! Now, it's back to designing and getting some new patterns ready. It's been too long since I have held a needle in hand. Prepping is happening now...stitching soon to follow! I can't wait!

I leave you with a great photo of my family together in the Florida Panhandle just a few days ago. I would sure love to live there!! It's so beautiful! First, my parents,

And my immediate family,

And all of us together! We had an awesome time together!

I'll be vending in Duluth, MN at the Minnesota Quilter's Show June 11-13. It's an awesome show with many top notch quilts on display as well as lots of vendors. If you are free, come and see me! After that I'll be at a NEW show, The Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival June 19-21. It should also be a great show so please come on out and see me there if this is close to your neck of the woods! I'd love to meet you! One other note... Have you heard about the new magazine Punch Needle and Primitive Stitchery? The 1st issue is being shipped now and it sold out so they are printing another run! Be sure to subscribe if you want to get in on this new magazine. I've got a project in the first issue...can't wait to see it in print!

Take care and thanks for stopping by today!

Missie

 

Visit my web store www.TraditionalPrimitives.com

Busy Days

I know it seems like I have fallen off the planet, but I am still here plugging away at my little business. As I take a few moments this morning with my coffee and iPad, this is my view from my recliner.

It's been a big tan wall for quite a while as I've been vending and taken all my favorites to a few trunk shows and lectures. I'm retiring this pattern from my booth, so will get to enjoy Charmed Beginnings on my wall for a while! When I finish new designs something has to give in my booth, so I'll start retiring the older quilts to a warm and cozy spot in my home. You can still purchase this pattern from Blackberry Primitives if you are interested. They asked me to design a quilt using their wools and it was a great experience. This is the cotton version I made for displaying in my booth. It has a smidge of wool but is mostly cotton. The 100% wool Applique version is shown below the cotton quilt.

This quilt celebrates the colors and qualities of new spring which is happening right now around here. It's amazing to wake to freezing temps one week and suddenly the next week we wake to birds singing and trees bursting with buds and blooms. My iris are shooting up inches every day and soon they will be bursting with blooms as well!

This blooming tree looks a bit small in this photo, but it is good sized and we are so happy to enjoy the blooms this year. Many years it will be hit with the last frost of the winter season and the blooms are taken before we can enjoy them. Soon, they will be blowing away in the wind, so we enjoy an evening drink on the porch to enjoy the beauty that spring brings.

My days have been spent preparing for Quilt Market, making sure I have enough patterns on hand. The pile below does not look very organized, but it is very organized in the placement of which patterns will be packaged for Sample Spree and which will be placed in the booth as we set up. There is a method to my madness! And believe me, this is a neat pile compared to a few days ago! Haha! That means I am making headway and will be ready sooner than later! I am ready to be finished so I can get back to sewing something new!

While unpacking my vending goodies, I decided to display these punched rugs on my wall in the office so I could enjoy them for a while also. It's showing me that soon the mess you see above will be packed up and I can have a nice clean space again! Those patterns above have been taking over the house the last few weeks!

Today I'll be stamping the Punchneedle Designs on the weaver's cloth, so I'll be able to finish up the pattern prep today. If you are headed to Quilt Market in Minneapolis, please look me up! I will be in booth 140 right next to the food court doing my demo on basting English Paper Piecing with Starch.

I'd like to put out a call for comments on my Starch Brush. If you've used it could you please email me at missie@traditionalprimitives (dot) com and let me know how you like it? I would like to print some comments for testimonials to post in my booth. Same request for those of you who have gotten a start on The Gardens Of A King? Since this is a new technique I would like the store owners to see how much people love this method for preparing English Paper Piecing. I won't print your email addresses or violate your privacy in any way of course! Be sure to email me as I can not print comments from the posts below.

One more shout out for a new magazine being published very soon. It's called Punch Needle and Primitive Stitchery Magazine and I'll have a new project in the premier issue! Be sure to get subscribed if you are a lover of primitive stitching and Punchneedle! Click HERE to get to the website and subscribe. This magazine will be a great addition to your current subscription of Primitive Quilts and Projects Magazine! It's so wonderful to see Punchneedle making a comeback. I am on a mission to get it exposed to as many people as possible to keep the beautiful and simple art alive and well!

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I promise it won't be too much longer and I will get back to posts about stitching! I can't wait to get at it again...my fingers are itchin' to get stitchin'!

Take care,

Missie

 

 

Visit my web store www.TraditionalPrimitives.com

Get Me To The Church (Or Guild Meeting!) On Time!!

This post is not really related to Quilting directly, but it IS related to getting to our fun Monthly or weekly events like guild and small groups on time and on the right day! It seems that most everyone has an Apple Product of some sort these days whether it be a phone or an iPad or a computer or notebook. I have an iPad tablet and an Android phone so these are run differently in the guts of the computers and are not comparable with each other when it comes to using the same apps. I think everyone probably knows this, right? If you have an Apple product of some sort, perhaps this post will help you!

So many people I know struggle with the calendars on these devices and easily putting our events on our calendars. So many of the calendars on these devices come only with the option to repeat the event on the same DATE of the month and my friends and I have talked about that complaint so often! This would be handy to put in guild and small group meetings that occur on the 1st Tuesday of each month vs. the same DATE of each month which would be a different day of the month each month...got it?

Well, with the newest IOS update to my old iPad I guess the calendar had an update too! ***Please read the starred paragraph below before you do the IOS 8 update!*** Anyway, I just discovered the option to create a custom repeat In the calendar app so that my entries have now become so EASY! I am THRILLED! For so long I have chosen the option for an event repeated monthly and then I move the event by sliding the entry on the calendar. WHEN I remember to do the slide that is... BUT I have such a hard time remembering which week of the month each event falls on, it's still not easy for me. I am constantly referring to past calendars to find out exactly which week the repeating event falls in. This new update has solved that problem for me and I know it will help some of you too! The solution is a bit buried in the app.

So here is the new solution I've just discovered. Using the iPad Calendar (I assume the iPhone calendar will work the same) create your event as you normally would. Click on the date and start filling in the form. After you've entered the title of the event, go down and click Repeat.

Then choose the frequency of the repeat...could be daily, weekly, etc. I've chosen Monthly.

Then click "on the..." And the schedule option will show up that coordinates with the option you chose above. This is the new part! You can now choose the same day of the week each month vs the same DATE. Yeah!!

Then click the repeat arrow to go back a page and you will see a custom repeat! Yeah Again!!!

I've chosen to never stop this repeat so I won't ever need to remember to make an entry for this event again!! And you can also see that the custom repeat is saved.

Then click ADD and it will be saved on your calendar on the same day of the same week forever!!!! I'm so excited! Can you tell? I will never be disappointed to miss another fun meeting because I will know it's coming without having to think about it! And an added bonus is that it will be on the correct day! LOL

There were several different options and it should fit to most any schedule that you need to put on your calendar. It's a GREAT addition!

Now the second part that is very cool is that I can download the Android calendar app on my iPad and sync this calendar with the iPad calendar. Then the Android calendar on my phone will sync with this calendar as long as I am signed in so I have all my calendar events with me where ever I go. This is nothing new, but just in case you didn't know, the option is there for you!

*****A word of warning...when I did the IOS update for my iPad 2, which is only a few years old, Apple considers this old. The new IOS update is not very compatable with these "old" models and did require that I adjust some settings and do a restore to make it work as good as it used to. I was very upset for a while but am now used to the changes that occurred due to the update. For a while I wanted to throw the iPad across the room!! But all is well now. The big thing I've noticed is that I can not have lots of browser windows open at once or the iPad freezes. And sometimes FB has trouble with the browser open at the same time. So I close a few now and then to keep the open windows to about 5 or less. Otherwise it works well now. If you have not done the update yet, do the research first to decide if you want it!!!

I hope this has helped some of you! Hopefully you don't think this is a stupid post. So many I know don't know about this option, so I just thought I'd share! It made my day once I discovered this one little option to do a custom repeat that works with my schedule!

I'm getting ready for "It's A Gatherin' " in Stover, MO this week. It's a fun shopping event in central MO at the Community Center in Stover on April 10 & 11 and opens at 9am. The shoppers are so excited and get there early to come visit us vendors. This was the first show I ever did and now here it is the third time I'm going there! Time flies when you are having fun!! If you are in the area please come see me and say hello!! I am hoping I can make the adjustment from a 20' booth to an 8' booth! Something has to give and it's always so hard to decide!! LOL

I've also started a new project for Primitive Quilts and Projects Magazine. Thanks to all of you who have ordered the kit for the little quilt in the spring issue. Look for another next spring! One other New project will be published soon in the new magazine Punch Needle and Primitive Stitchery. Kits will be available for the new magazine project also. I'll show a picture when I can!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great week!!

Take care,

Missie

 

Visit my web store www.TraditionalPrimitives.com

Back In The Saddle!

Wow! It's been a while since I've had time to blog! Wish I had some new sewing to show you, but I have not had time to do any quilty sewing. Today is English Paper Piecing club at the local quilt store, Creekside Quilting, so I will be finding a few minutes to stitch this afternoon thank goodness. Sewing at home this week has been spent on smocking 3 little dresses for some relatives. It brings back so many great memories of when I used to make most all of my girls' clothing when they were young. The picture below is a little peek as the dresses are a bit of a surprise for the girls' mom. When she receives them I will try to get a photo of the girls in the dresses. It was fun to get the pleater out again and sew these sweet little dresses! Do any of you smock ?

Last weekend I was off on another vending trip to Bloomington, IL. What a fun bunch of ladies! Everyone was very excited to be at the show and very interested in learning a little something new.

My set up was a wee bit different this time. It was so nice to have enough room to lay things out instead of on top of each other! There was actually room to have all the items separated into 'departments' and actually see all the items!! The booth was 20' long which was a treat! What you see above is not the entire space allowed. Next weekend I will be in Stover, MO at "It's A Gatherin'" and I will have to squeeze back into an 8' x 8' space. Now how will I do that?! LOL. I'm sure I will figure it out! And the shopping will be just as exciting!!

We actually had enough space to display the Punchneedle quilts all on their own. So nice to let them show off for once!!

My helper and I got to sit next to each other and visit easily now and then, which was pretty nice also!! I did the demos on the left side of the brown table and she ran the register on the right.

While doing the English Paper Piecing Basting with Starch demo, I usually work on 3/4" hexies. But this time I decided to work on hexies that I will actually use for my next little quilt. So the size this time is 1/2". Usually folks think the 3/4" is small, but this time I really heard that comment often! You can see the 3/4" hexies below on the bottom left of the picture. The 1/2" hexies are the others.

I just want to throw out a reminder that any time we are stitching by hand, smaller pieces are easier because all we want to be concerned with is the next stitch ahead of our needle, right?! If we have a large piece of paper with fabric basted around it in our hands a larger piece won't fit easily, right? So smaller is simpler in this case Vs a 2" or larger piece. Just focus on the next stitch ahead of your needle and take a deep breath! Don't forget to enjoy the process!

See that cutter up in the picture? That is a Fiskars Cutter. I have cut my little hexies out of a single layer of the C. jenkins Freezer paper. (If you cut a double layer of this strong freezer paper it will break the punch) Then I line up two hexies with shiny sides facing downward and then iron them together as I iron them to the wrong side of the fabric all in one step. It works great! These cutters are available in 1/2", 3/4" and 1" size. They are now listed on my website (Click Here) if you are interested! It is a fast and accurate way to cut hexies!

Here is my little box filled with cute little hexies that were SO easy to baste using my starch method! That pile of finished hexies is about 2" deep, All done while doing the demo in the booth!! It's so fun to make these!

Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by today!!

Take Care,

Missie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visit my web store www.TraditionalPrimitives.com