A Blustery Day at the Lake House...An Upcoming Teaching Engagements

Wow!  I would sure say that winter has arrived.  We have not gotten snow here at the Lake House like they have back in Des Moines and other parts of the midwest, but it's still cold and windy.  Why is it we always feel shocked when winter sets in? The forecast for today was 6" of snow but now has reduced to 1".  That's moving in the right direction for me!  It's pretty mild most of the time here at the lake, so it will be gone quickly. 1" will be just enough to enjoy for a day or so.  ❄❄❅❅  Maybe this view will be white tomorrow!  It will put me in the mood for Christmas...🎄

I have been busy going through the items of my parents lifetime.  It's taking me down memory lane for sure.  There are so many memories, it makes me both happy and sad, but comforted as well.  My parents talked about wanting to update the house but never could decide what to do.  We decided to redo the kitchen, remove wallpaper and paint.  Thank goodness the painters have a product that will eliminate having to remove the wallpaper and will be able to paint the walls easily.  The kitchen is in the middle of its' remodel and I will post some before and after pictures when it is completed.  What an experience!

I plan on taking a few minutes from going through items today to do some sewing while football is on.  It used to be that I would prepare a lot of Applique or English Paper Piecing ahead and bring my stack upstairs to sew while Dear Hubs was watching football.  But so far this year I have not had time to prep much ahead of time.  I do have a stack of triangles that I have been sewing together for a while now so I will get them out and try to get some piecing done.  It seems I have been carrying this box of triangles around with me for over a year!!  Time to get it finished!

What will it be??  I'm not quite sure yet!  HAHA!  I am pretty sure I do know, but I'll be keeping that a secret for now!

I've used the Triangle Punch to make my Premium Freezer Paper shapes very quick and easy.  You can find them on the notions page with the Hexie Punches by clicking HERE.  

I have two teaching engagements coming up if you want an excuse for a road trip!  The first is at the Road to California show in Ontario, California.  I will be teaching English Paper Piecing using my technique of basting with starch.  It's a great class!  Click HERE for info.  My workshop is the 3rd one on the page.  Join me for great tips, a new technique for basting and fun!

The second teaching engagement is at the Academy of Applique' in Williamsburg, VA.  I am so honored to be teaching at this event.  It looks like a wonderful location in the heart of history of the beginning of the USA.  I will be teaching two sessions and the topic is The Gardens Of A King quilt.  We will work on 3 blocks in each session and lessons will be full of great tips for excellent results.  I love teaching this quilt to show people it is not as hard as they think it will be!  Click HERE for information.  My workshop information is on page 12.  Click the arrows in the bottom left corner of the picture that comes up on the page and all the information will be there for you to see.  I can't wait!

Wish me luck for actually getting to sit and stitch today!  

Have a wonderful day yourself!

Take care,

Missie

TraditionalPrimitives.com

#31daysofblogging2018

#EnglishPaperPiecing

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My Day for Splendid Sampler 2!

Well, today is my day for sharing my block in the Splendid Sampler 2 book!  I'm happy to share my block, Full Circle with you!  It's about coming full circle with English Paper Piecing after trying to love it for so many years.  Those of you familiar with my blog know that I have my own way of basting EPP, but the newcomers from The Splendid Sampler may not know about it.

Early on when I learned to quilt back in the late 80's one of the first quilts I wanted to make was a
Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  I tried basting with needle and thread and just couldn't do it well.  Over the years I'd try again, and still I didn't like it (and frankly was no good at it!).  Then the shortcuts for EPP basting came along and they just were not for me for one reason or another.  I went on to enjoy applique' as my favorite quilting technique for many years.

One day I decided to do a Dear Jane quilt and I decided to make it using applique'.  (I was not a "piecer" at this time and applique' was my favorite thing!) . When I came upon a sharp point I decided to use starch for basting the applique' and it clicked that I should try starch basting for English Paper Piecing.  After all, many of the blocks in Dear Jane should really be pieced.  It worked great and has lead to developing all sorts of tips and notions for using while Starch Basting English Paper Piecing.

This leads me to the block Full Circle...symbolizing how I struggled to love English Paper Piecing and now it's my favorite way of piecing!  I can now say in all honesty that I am a piecer.  I love handwork and it works great for me and many others. 

Watch this video to see exactly what got me so excited about EPP~ click HERE.  The block Full Circle has an English Paper Pieced center and the rest of the pieces are Applique'd using the same method of Starch Basting.  (You will also find this video on my home page in the top right corner if you want to watch it again at TraditionalPrimitives.com )

You can use traditional English Paper Piecing Basting to prep your block, but here's the way I made my block if you want to learn a shortcut for basting:  Copy the pattern onto Premium Freezer Paper and then iron two pages together with shiny sides down.  Then cut out the shapes right on the lines.

Next prep the triangle pieces by ironing the shiny side of the template to the back of the fabric. Paint two of the seam allowances with starch using the Starch Brush and fold the seam over and dry with the iron.  Leave one seam un-prepped and flat.

Next prep the center hexie shape using the starch basting method.  

And then move on to prep the petal shapes.  Only starch baste one side of each petal. 

And lastly prep the background outer circle.  Clip the curves so that the seams will turn nicely when you press them dry on the backside.  

Follow the directions in the book for using the star shaped template as a guide for placing the petals in the proper position and glue baste them in place.  

Use basic English Paper Piecing stitching to sew the center triangles together and then glue baste them in the center of the star shape and stitch in place.  

Stitch the petals in place also.

And lastly stitch the outer circle background in place!  

The block above is the one pictured in the book on page 78 and the one shown below is the one I've made for my quilt using my 1st fabric line Ginger & Spice from Blank Quilting.  My fabrics are a touch traditional and a touch primitive, just like my quilting style and business name, Traditional Primitives.  I'm very excited to be using them in this project.  You can find Ginger & Spice in your local quilt shops now if you are interested in having them for yourself!

Featured this week with my blocks are my favorite little scissors for clipping threads.  These little sheep scissors come in black or silver- a tough decision on which one is cuter!  Need a perfect gift for your favorite sewing friend?  These scissors would make a wonderful keepsake!

You will find the notions mentioned on the Notions page of my website, TraditionalPrimitives.com and there are more videos beside several of the products.  Let me know if you have any questions.  I hope you have learned a little something today and enjoy making your Full Circle block.  Get it done soon and enter the contest Pat mentioned at SplendidSampler.com- Good Luck in the contest to win 12 spools of Aurifil thread!

If you don't have your book yet it's available in quilt shops now!  Join us in the FB Group as well.  It will be so much fun to stitch this Splendid Sampler 2 together!

For those of you who are new to my blog, please feel free to read back on older posts and get to know me.  You'll find me on FB as Traditional Primitives from Missie Carpenter.  Hope to see you there!

Thanks for stopping by and as always, Take Care,

Missie

Shop by clicking on TraditionalPrimitives.com!!

Another Splendid Sampler 2 Block!

The last post I showed you two of the blocks I've made for the Splendid Sampler 2 and today I'll show you one more real quick.  It's called For the Love by Sharon Burgess.  This one is English Paper Pieced- just up my ally!  Of course I used my Starch Basting Technique to baste and it went together lickety split!  What a pretty flower it makes!  These are a few more of the fabrics from Ginger & Spice, my line with Blank Quilting  :-}

Are you joining in the fun of making this quilt?  Join the FB group and get started!

Take care and thanks for stopping by.

Missie

#SplendidSampler #BlankQuilting #TraditionalPrimitives #SplendidSamplerDesigner #TheSplendidSampler2 #TheSplendidSampler #aurifil #quilting #31dayblogchallenge2018

Thanksgiving Joys and a bit of Splendid Sampler 2 Sewing!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I am so thankful for my family and spending time with them over the Thanksgiving weekend.  Little Paxton was the life of the party all weekend of course and we all doted on him as much as possible.  He's a happy little guy and sure has grown up since we last saw him just a few weeks ago.  It's hard to believe our kids changed as quickly as our grand child does!  Haha!  We missed one of our daughters and her husband this Thanksgiving while they visited his side of the family but we had a mini Thanksgiving with them the weekend before, thank goodness .

I want to share (again) the news that I am thrilled to be a part of the Splendid Sampler 2 book.  If you have not heard about it, you can read more about it HERE on the web page SplendidSampler.com.   It's quite an honor to be included!  Thank you Jane and Pat!

I am a little late to the party but I've gotten a start on my blocks and will be using my first fabric line, Ginger & Spice Collection from Blank Quilting for my Splendid Sampler quilt.  It's been pretty fun to make these little blocks from my own fabric...still hard to believe!

Here are my first few blocks!
First up is Milk and Cookies designed by Rebecca Bryan

I laid my cute little Sheep Scissors on there since this block reminds me of a clock...time has flown since I started on these.  You can find the Sheep Scissors on my website by clicking HERE if you must have some for yourself or a special sewing friend!

Next up is Rose and Dot by Lori Kennedy

This is an easy applique' block!  A fun finish!  I used my starch basting notions for making the shapes crisp and precise very easily.  You can see these on the notions page of my website by clicking HERE.  

Thanks Ladies in the Splendid Sampler 2 for such cute blocks to work on!  I hope to get at it a bit more aggressively and get some of these babies done!
I will post a few more blocks for you to see tomorrow.  Until then, Happy Stitching and Take Care,
Missie

#SplendidSampler2 #BlankQuilting #TraditionalPrimitives #splendidsamplerdesigner #thesplendidsampler2 #thesplendidsampler  #aurifil  #quilting #handwork #31dayblogchallenge2018