New Year, New Book, New Drawing

photos courtesy of Martingale

Here's a brand new book hot off the press:  The Big Book of Table Toppers by Martingale.  This is truly a BIG book!  It has 56 patterns in it. That's a lot of patterns! I'd say the patterns are some of the best of the best.  I think many if not all the patterns come from different Martingale designer's books. I'm happy to say that I have a small table topper included in the book that came from my book Little Gems.  

Here is my little table topper called Basket Weave.  It is made using paper piecing.

This cute runner by Tammy Johnson is called Grandma's Sewing Basket.  I like how the ric rac flows thru the runner and forms the basket handles!

This quilt by Cindy Lammon is called Simply Simple.  It IS very simple, but I love how she used the large print in the center.  The colors are wonderful.  It's a great way to use one of those beautiful prints that you just can't bear to cut up!

One last sneak peak- this quilt is called A Pack of Posies is by Vicki Bellino.  It has a touch of applique and could also be a good project to use lots of scraps.

As you can just begin to see from these four runners, the projects in this book have a nice range in techniques.  The colors and patterns are really inspiring.  This book has it all.  I'm sure everyone could find many projects that they'd like to make!

Check it out at your local quilt shop or ShopMartingale.com for a hard copy or ebook.

Martingale has graciously offered a free ebook of The Big Book of Table Toppers for a drawing from my blog.  Please leave a comment telling how many table runners you've made to be entered in the drawing.  Drawing will be held Jan 13.

A few favorite things

The past few weeks I've been working on several projects and using some "tools of the trade" that I especially love.  I thought I'd share these with you in case you need a last minute gift for yourself or a quilting friend.

1.   Triangulations 2.0 by Brenda Henning/Bear Paw Productions.  This is a CD Rom that prints out Half Square and Quarter Square paper piecing patterns in 1/8" increment sizes.  Believe me- this makes any size you could possibly need.  I've used the half square patterns many times over the years, but just used the quarter square paper patterns for the first time and they are just as wonderful.
You can't beat them for speed and accuracy.

I love many other paper patterns like Thangles, but this CD is so handy to have on hand.  During the cold, stormy weather the past couple weeks when I really needed the patterns, all I had to do was pull out the CD and select the size quarter square triangles I needed and I could print exactly what I needed!

I've had this CD for many years and just found that they now have a new CD called  Triangulations 4.0 that looks really great too.

2.  Free Motion 1/2"  Quilting Ruler Foot for domestic machine sewing by Westalee.

This ruler foot is just fantastic.  I can't say enough about it.  I've wanted a foot like this for years and am loving all that it allows me to do with my domestic machine.  The foot and many quilting templates are sold in the US thru www.sewsteady.com. 

I find that I switch from my 1/4" foot, walking foot and 1/2" ruler foot continually.  They are my most used feet for my domestic machine.  There are also many You Tube tutorials to get you started, and be sure and check out all their quilting templates.

3.  80 wt Aurifil Thread.  I was fortunate to try out the new 80 wt. Aurifil Thread on a project that will be published in a book with Annie's next year.  I love 50-60 wt threads and this 80 wt is also wonderful.  The quilting was smooth and the thread seems to sink into the fabric.  Lovely!

These are three of my favorite things - check them out!

Quilting for Charity

December is a wonderful time to think of doing some quilting for charity.  The challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors this month was to choose a charity of our choice and make something for them.  I chose David's Run for Autism.  A friend of mine has two teenage sons.  The younger of the two boys - David, has Autism.  Two years ago David's brother Noah began a run in honor of his brother and to benefit the group Autism Speaks.  Autism Speaks  provides many services for those with Autism.

I made a table runner for the Silent Auction for next years run from a small bundle of strips from Island Batik.  I seldom remember to take photos of my quilts in process- but here are a couple:

I started with a small bundle of strips and thought it would be fun to see how large a project I could make with them.  I wanted to make a puzzle block design as that is the symbol they use for Autism Speaks and David's Run for Autism.  I had fun at a guild retreat getting the whole top put together in a couple days.  The leftover pieces I used in the binding.  For once I hardly had any scraps left!

Here is the finished Table Runner.

The run this year will be May 6, 2017 in Nappanee Indiana.  You can find more information by going to Facebook at David's Run for Autism.  The run is fun and there are informational booths, some games for the kids and a great silent auction. It is a fun day for the family and the proceeds go to a great cause.  If you are in the area in May- come for a run and join the fun.  Also be sure and check out the silent auction and bid on the table runner and other great items!

Crossing Lines Table Runner

There is a new book out that is about working with charm squares.  It is called Just Charm Quilts by Annie's Quilting.

My project in the book is called Crossing Lines,  It is a table runner 37 1/2" x 15" that uses a charm pack from Island Batik called Drizzle.  The 5" x 5" fabric packs from Island Batik are called Stamps. The background fabric is also from the Drizzle collection. These are lovely fabrics and the squares are fun to work with.  You might want to pick up some to work with!

Crossing Lines by Connie Kauffman   Published in Just Charm Quilts by Annie's Publishing, Berne IN.  Annie'sCraftStore.com

Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland!  That's a great theme for the November Island Batik Ambassador challenge!  Like some of the other Ambassadors, I decided to use the small roll of blue strips that Island Batik sent us to play with.  The strips look like winter with snowflakes and sparkle and lovely blues.

I added another blue and white Island Batik for backgrounds, and was all set to go.  It's really surprising what you can do with strips- even just a few.

I made this table mat and hot pad I call Winter Twilight.

Winter is coming with cold and snow- hope you can snuggle in with some fabric and have fun creating!

Published Table Runners

The new book Precut Table Runners & Toppers by Annie's Quilting has two sets of my projects.

The first project is featured on the cover (see above).  It is called Riverbed and is a set of place mats and a table runner and hot pad.  It  is made with French Roasted fabrics from Island Batik and Warm Blend and Insulbright batting from The Warm Company.

Riverbed by Connie Kauffman from the book Precut Table Runners & Toppers published by Annie's Berne, IN.  AnniesCraftStore.com 

The second project is called Winter and is a runner and table mat made with Holiday Happenings fabric from Island Batik and Warm Blend Batting from The Warm Company.

Winter  by Connie Kauffman from the book Precut Table Runners & Toppers published by Annie's Berne, IN.  AnniesCraftStore.com.

Runners, place mats and hot pads are great projects for gift giving - you still have time to make some!

domestic machine quilting with templates 101

In an earlier post I talked about the Westalee ruler foot and how wonderful it is.  With this foot, you can quilt using templates on your domestic machine - something I've been wanting to do for a long time.

I plan on doing several posts about quilting with templates, so this is lesson 101.  I'm assuming- hoping- that you have purchased the ruler foot for your domestic machine if you are at all interested in quilting with templates.  That is the first step.  If you haven't decided to make the leap and purchase a foot yet- check out the website of Sew Steady to check out purchasing a foot and templates (Sew Steady sells the Westalee Design products in the US).  You might also want to go to the Westalee Design site and view some of their great videos to get you motivated.

Once you get your ruler foot, you need to attach it to your machine at the correct height.  You need to adjust the height of the foot to make sure you can move the fabric easily under the foot when quilting, but not so high the templates would move under the foot.  Experiment a bit to get the correct height.

Now you are ready to start!  I bet you are excited!  Now you have those pretty, shiny templates and you are ready to go - but wait!  Before you start quilting you need to put something on the back of each template so that it will not slide on the fabric.  Believe me- this is about the most important thing you need to do!  If you don't put something on the back, your template will slide all over the place and you have no control and you will end up taking out lots of stitches- ask me how I know!

I've experimented with a few different ways to prepare the back of the template.  Westalee Designs sends you a strip of what they call Stable Tape with each template.  This looks similar to rubber shelf liner, but has fusible on one side.  You cut the strips and adhere them to the back of the templates in a couple spots.  I try to place them where they don't cover any of the lines on the templates.

I've also tried a package of clear rubber dots about the size of pencil erasers, but those didn't hold as well for me.  I also tried spraying quilt basting spray on the back of the template as some long arm machine quilters do.  This works well, but it does attract lint and you need to clean it off periodically and respray.

So after some experimenting, I'm sticking with the Stable Tape.  It works well for me.  I just have to remember to put it on before I start using those fun templates!

If you are starting on the journey of quilting with templates on your domestic machine, I'd love to hear from you.  We can learn together!