2016 Finishes

I started the year strong thanks to classes and retreats, but then summer hit with gardening and spending time outside and then suddenly we were unexpectedly moving.  The good news is that I did get a lot of quilt tops completed last year even if they didn't ultimately turn into completed quilts.  I already had a pile of unquilted tops, so I guess we know what needs to be the priority in 2017!  Of course, I also just packed and unpacked my personal stash and it's very obvious that a lot more tops need to be pieced as well if I have any hope of making a dent.  At least with all of the projects at the new house and the money required to complete them, I am not even remotely tempted to add anymore fabric to my already huge stash lol.

So on to my 2016 finishes.  January 2016 was pretty productive.  I taught a class for our Guild with my 2 Hour Table Runner pattern and completed a red, black and white version while demo-ing the steps for the class.  I got it quilted a few months later and binding completed in September.  I also got the binding sewn down for the two Floating Four Patch quilts that I had quilted in 2015, so those two little quilts are done, done.

In February I attended a retreat, which is always conducive for getting things done.  I actually got my Black & White Bargello top completed before the retreat so I would have it for Show & Tell.  As a bonus, I also was able to take my Bargello top to a Quilting Cocoon I attended in Naperville in April and get a picture of the quilt top with Bonnie Hunter, the designer of the pattern I used.  It's a free pattern and you can find it here.  During the retreat I pieced my Prairie Stroll top using a collection of fabrics I had purchased when I started quilting in 2001, so I was happy to finally have them into a completed quilt top.  This was a pattern from an issue of Quiltmaker magazine from 2001.  Also at retreat, I pieced a quick little table runner that is a free pattern on the Timeless Treasures Reef Charm Pack.

In March I finished my Mysterious top from a class I took with Doug Leko in February.  This was a great quilt to make!  It's one of those blocks that can result in a multitude of layout possibilities that all look very different.  I also finished a couple of trivets made from orphan blocks.  I like to practice my machine quilting on orphan blocks and turn them into trivets or potholders.

April brought the previously mentioned Quilting Cocoon held in Naperville, IL.  This was a great event set up by Craftours and featured classes with four national/international instructors.  Bonnie Hunter was one of them and while I haven't made any real progress on the class I took from her in April, I did manage to get my Texas Tumbleweeds top completed during the Cocoon and got a picture of the top with Bonnie and myself.  Texas Tumbleweeds was the class I had taken on a Quilting Cruise in November 2014.  The pattern can be found in her More Adventures with Leaders and Enders book and you can purchase it directly from Bonnie here. 

I also completed this little strippy strings top that will be donated once it's completed.  I had short strings I wanted to use so I sewed them onto leftover rolls of paper from the ATMs we used to fill.  I do plan to write up the instructions at some point, but haven't gotten to that yet.  Perhaps that will be a blog post when I finally get this top quilted and bound.  The top does have a bit of a left leaning problem, but I think I will be able to remedy that with a the quilting.

Finally, I finished  sewing down the binding on another of my 2 Hour Table Runners in April.  I call this one the "Caribbean" runner.

The next few months of quilting time were filled with a special project for which I got the top completed in July.  My FIL passed away in 2014 and I am using his shirts to make quilts for my husband and his sister.  I finished his sister's quilt top in July.  It is a combination of string pieced blocks and applique.  I used the quilt Angel Kisses from the Strips and Strings book by Evelyn Sloppy as inspiration for the quilt and for the applique patterns.

While in the throes of buying a house, selling a house and packing to move, I needed some mindless sewing to keep my sanity.  I had received some free strips with my Island Batik orders, so some 16 patch blocks using matching pairs of the strips was just what I needed.  I trimmed the strips to 2 1/2 inches wide for my blocks.  A quick tutorial on piecing 16 patch blocks will likely be one of my future blog posts although there are plenty such tutorials already out there :-).  So here is my 16 patch top.  It's a small top that will be great for a child.  Once I get it quilted and bound it will be donated.

And the final finish for 2016 happened on December 31, 2016 at about 11 p.m. as I put the final stitches in the binding of my Jingle Table Runner.  This was a free pattern on the Jingle charm pack from Timeless Treasures.  I added borders because I wanted a wider runner.  The piecing was super easy.

New Year, New Shop!

2016 turned out to be a big year of changes for us, with the biggest being our unplanned relocation to Park Rapids, MN.  We fell into the opportunity to purchase our dream home on a lake just outside Park Rapids and included in the dream home was a very large separate space for the quilt shop, with built in bookcases and a layout that I couldn't have designed better if I had done it myself.  So we took the big leap, made an offer on the dream home in early August, put ours on the market a few weeks later, moved me and the quilt shop to the new home at the end of October, and completed the move in early December after the closing on our Grand Forks home.  It has been a whirlwind to say the least, but when God opens a door for you and shows you a clear path, you have to take that leap of faith and just go with it.  My husband had to leave his full time job of over 31 years, but there is so much more that we can do with the quilt shop at our new location and I will need help to get it all done.  I have been working on my list of goals for the business in 2017 and while they are ambitious, I think they are achievable with some hard work on our part.

So on to the new shop!  The rest of this post is going to be pic heavy, so sit back and relax while I take you on the virtual tour :-).  

The back of the house and deck.  All of those windows overlooking the deck are the quilt shop space.

The yard has wildlife visitors of some sort every day.  This trio consisting of a doe and two of her babies are frequent visitors to the backyard.

Built in bookcases that were the perfect size for bolts of fabric.  Lots and lots of bookcases with room for lots and lots of bolts.  No, this isn't even all of the bookcases. There are more to come down further in this post.

The double sided bookcase that we moved from the old house and which was a perfect fit for this corner space in the shop.

Narrow bookcase that we previously used in our old kitchen for extra storage now fits perfectly against a short wall in the quilt shop and is also just the right size for our black and white fabrics.

We also moved these 3 cabinets from the old house.  Two had previously been used in the shop and the third was used in the basement bathroom for storage. The bathrooms in the new house have tons of storage, so we were able to reunite all three cabinets, which fit this wall perfectly and cover the media center spaces that were used by the previous owners.  We did make good use of the glass shelves in the media center and are using them to store the bolts ends that have been removed from skinny bolts.  The top sections house precuts perfectly and the rest has plenty of room to showcase our pastel batiks.

Our tall bookcase we moved from the old house and which fit perfectly on the narrow wall next to the wet bar area.  We desperately need to restock our solid batiks, but Anthology is in the midst of their own big changes and the shipment that came in December was only about 25% of what they were expecting, so we are waiting as well to get these solid shelves filled back up.

As promised, here are more built in bookcases.  There is another group of five tucked into a corner near the back windows.  The natural light in the shop is amazing!!  I have my old cutting table and mat set up in that corner for cutting shop orders.

The pool table that came with the house.  What does a pool table have to do with a quilt shop, you say?  Well if you have a handy husband that can build a removable top, you have yourselves one really awesome and huge cutting table!  The pool table is situated near the large section of bookcases and the wet bar and it has two skylights plus a large light fixture right over it, so perfect for cutting out a quilt or for playing pool :-).  It will be really handy when we start hosting quilt retreats.  More on that below.

Pool table converted to a cutting table just like that.  The cutting mats are not yet taped down to the plywood.  I scored 3 of these on Veteran's Day at Joanns for 60% off each thanks to coupons.  That made each mat just $30 including sales tax.  So basically I paid for one and got the other two for free.  Can't beat that!

Retreat space!  One of the biggest opportunities with the purchase of this house is the ability to host small quilt retreats.  We already had three 8 foot long banquet tables and a smaller 6 foot long one that I used in the old shop.  The other 3 were purchased for plans that never panned out at the old house, but they are exactly what we need for quilt retreats.  We actually need one more, but that can wait for now.  One of the 8 foot tables is now my desk set up in front of the 3 part window with the half moon window above.  The last picture in the post will show you the view I now have every day as opposed to the basement wall that I had previously.  It's quite an upgrade lol.

The far corner in the picture below is where my cutting table is set up and the side that is closest is where two of the 8 foot tables are set up for retreat sewing.  That area is just in front of the pastel bolts I showed previously.  Have I mentioned that the natural light is amazing????  There are also tons of recessed lights, as well as other lighting, so plenty of light even after dark.

The wet bar area just off where the double sided bookcase now sits.  There is also a half bath that is opposite the window on the other side of the wet bar.  The cabinets in the wet bar area now give me plenty of space to store shipping supplies such as tape and envelopes, as well other miscellaneous shop items.

And finally, this is the view out the back windows of the shop space that I look at every day from my desk and  that will also be the view for quilters sewing at retreats.  We are living in God's country for sure :-).  We have some work to do before we can host retreats, including getting two of the four bedrooms down the hall from the shop painted and set up with beds, etc., but we will get there!  We also need to refinish and repair the deck before we can use it as a separate entrance for the shop during the non winter months.  And we have a huge list of projects to complete for the rest of the house as well.  We got a great deal on the price because there is flooring and painting to be done pretty much everywhere but the quilt shop, as well as some other updating and remodeling, including remodel of both of the full bathrooms.  The quilt shop area was just added in 2008, so it was move in ready, which was the most important so that our regular online business could continue as usual.

Cyber Monday Sale!

We are having a Cyber Monday Sale!  All regular priced merchandise is 20% off through Midnight tonight, December 1, 2014.  Also check out our sale and clearance sections for even better deals!

http://www.myveryownquiltshop.com/

So Let's Talk Orphan Blocks...

We all have them.  Some of us sew them together into a whole new quilt top or a quilt backing.  Some of us turn them into coasters, potholders or trivets, or even small wall hangings for those extra large blocks.  Some of us do nothing with them at all and either throw them in a drawer or in the trash.  If you currently throw them in the trash please consider passing them on to a quilter that makes charity quilts.  Trust me that they will be put to good use!

As for me, I fall into the second category and like to turn my orphans into mini quilts to be used as potholders, etc.  In the spirit of full disclosure, first they usually go into a drawer, and I have quite a backlog at this point, but eventually I have a "deal with the poor orphan blocks" day and then they get to come out and play :-)

For those new quilters out there who don't know what orphan blocks are, they are the extra blocks leftover from making a quilt.  Yes, it does OCCASIONALLY happen that the number of blocks doesn't come out exactly to what you need and you have extra.  I say this tongue in cheek because this is not an occasional occurrence for me, it's a regular one LOL.  Or you make a test block that doesn't get used in the final quilt.  As a rule I'm not a test block maker, but I know many quilters are.  Or in the case of one of my recently quilted orphan blocks, I made a mis-cut when piecing for the quilt, so this one block had to get rejected because it wasn't going to end up at the correct size.

No matter how we get them, they seem to multiply much like scraps do.  So I am trying to not let them pile up quite so high and to deal with them more timely as they get produced.  I was traveling recently and binding little orphan blocks is the perfect handwork for airports and airplanes.  I got these two blocks bound during that trip.  I had lots of other handwork with me so I didn't get as many blocks bound as I took on the trip.

These two blocks have cotton batting in them so they will be used as trivets although they may also be fine as potholders as long as the temperature isn't too hot and the item isn't held too long.  I use Insulbrite in orphan blocks specifically intended to be potholders.  Then I know they are safe for use with high temperatures.  If you aren't familiar with Insul-bright, you can find it at the big box stores for a good price, especially if you catch it on sale.  It looks like this:

These two Christmas orphan blocks have Insul-Bright in them.  They end up a bit thicker and stiffer than they would with cotton batting and they have a little crinkle sound when you bend them.  That makes it easy to tell if Insul-Bright has been used rather than cotton batting.

Here are three more Christmas orphans that are quilted with regular batting.  The rectangular one would be great as a mug rug and the other two would be great for displaying some smaller Christmas decorations or simply using them as over sized coasters.

As a bonus to turning my orphans into mini quilts, I get to use up some of this:

Those are my bags of binding left over from binding my quilts.  I can generally find something in these baggies to match the orphan blocks and it is a good way to use up small lengths of leftover binding.  I also use these blocks to practice my machine quilting skills.  This is a good way to get practice without turning a large quilt into an eyesore lol. I currently have one poor little orphan that came out worse for the wear after I tried out some new quilting designs on it.  It's not the actual quilting that is so bad, but rather the designs I used, where I used them, and the thread that I used.  The quilting became way too busy and overwhelmed the block itself.  I am keeping it for future reference to hopefully show me how far my machine quilting skills have come!

I have more to say about orphan blocks, but this post is getting long so we will leave it as is for now :-).

New Stashbuilder Fat Quarter Sets in Stock!

We got six new Stashbuilder Fat Quarter sets put together yesterday.  They include batiks from Anthology Fabrics, Michael Miller, Benartex and Island Batik.  Lots of color as well as some new black and white batiks and some black tone on tone batiks that we are now carrying.

You can find all of our fat quarter sets HERE.

Using up Batting Scraps

Do you save the pieces of batting that you trim off of quilts after they are quilted?  I do.  I don't like to waste anything and batting costs money just like everything else.  Using up the scraps on smaller quilts and projects just makes good fiscal sense in my opinion (that's the former accountant in me) and gives me more money to spend on new fabric.  Not that I need any new fabric, but that doesn't really matter, does it?  LOL

If you do save those scraps, then you probably find the pile growing faster than you can deplete it. Maybe you are like me and get in a rush so you just grab a new piece of batting rather than taking the time to piece together some of those scraps.  So they continue to pile up.  I keep mine in a large basket and also have a smaller basket where I keep narrower batting scraps that I use for making potholders, mug rugs and trivets out of orphan blocks.

The large basket was overflowing and I had a pile of small projects needing to be quilted, so today I have been using the batting from that basket for them, piecing them together as needed.  These orphan blocks are now basted and ready for quilting.

Can you see how I stitched two pieces of batting together for the large block?  Look about half way down and you will see the zig zag running horizontally.

It is super easy to piece batting.  First, I lay out the rough pieces that I need based on the size of the quilt backing.  Then I lay 2 pieces on top of each other that need to be stitched together.  I make a clean, straight cut along the side where they will meet.  Then I use a wide zig zag stitch with a longer stitch length to sew them together.

This batting for one of my small quilts is made up of 4 pieces sewn together.  I had one large piece, but it wasn't wide enough so I pieced together three smaller pieces to make another segment that was then sewn to the original large piece.  As long as you use a wide zig zag you shouldn't get bunching along the joining seam.  The 4 piece batting below is relatively flat in person.  I'm not sure why it looks so puffy in the picture.  I do a quick press with a hot iron which also helps keep the batting flat and the picture may have been before that final press.  PLEASE NOTE - I am using 100% cotton batting or mostly cotton batting in these examples.  Poly batting will need a much cooler iron or it will melt.

The quilt with the 4 piece batting isn't basted yet, but these two are and both battings are made up of scraps I pieced together.  If you look close, you can see that the pink and green quilt batting is made up of three pieces.  I do make sure that the join doesn't fall under a light section of the quilt like the very light sashing on this quilt.  After all of this basting, the basket is still overflowing, but at least it has gone down a bit!

Christmas in July!

I am continuing to plug along on old UFOs.  The boys are all at my in-laws farm this weekend doing some work for them so I have taken advantage of my time alone and have spent a lot of time in the quilting studio.  I have been itching to do some machine quilting as it's been well over a year since I've done any, so I dug out this Christmas 9 Patch quilt that was ready to go and got it all basted. 

I just wound a bunch of bobbins and will be getting started on the quilting shortly.  I'm going to do an overall grid pattern on it.  As an extra bonus, when I unfolded it I found that I had already made the binding for it, so I can get that attached as soon as the quilting is done.  Who knows, it might actually get done by Christmas!!!