Star Light Star Bright QAL, Half Square Triangles

Posted on February 17, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Monday!

This weekend, I found time to work on my project for the Star Light Star Bright QAL hosted and designed by Melissa. There is still time to join the fun so pop on over to her blog to check out all the details!

Our assignment this week was to create our half square triangles. I’m making the 9-block baby size quilt so I had quite a few HST’s to sew and trim!

The sewing part went pretty fast as I chain-stitched each grouping. The important part of this step was to keep our groupings separate so we don’t confuse the half square triangles between groups. I labeled each group with a sticky note and only sewed one group at a time.

Next, we trimmed our little HST’s! This part makes me happy to sew all those perfectly square little blocks, but I definitely get a sore left forearm. I cut with my right hand, but seem to hold onto my squaring ruler pretty tightly with my left hand so that the fabric doesn’t wiggle. This seems to lead to soreness the next day when I do lots of trimming.

Here’s a look at my little mountain of trimmed edges:

HST Trimmings

I’ll use these trimmings to make more cat nip presents for my quilt inspectors.

Here’s a look at all my half square triangles, neatly trimmed. I have group 1 spread out on my cutting table next to groups 2 through 9.

Half Square Triangles for Star Light Star Bright QAL

And here’s a look at all my HST’s and flying geese bundled up together in a little tray:

Organizing Tray for Star Light Star Bright QAL

Stay tuned for next week’s post where I will show you my block centers for this QAL.

I also had the opportunity to attend a Downton Abbey tea party hosted by Andover Fabrics on Saturday. I even won a prize – eek! I’ll upload my photos from this wonderful event to an upcoming post so stay tuned!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Create Custom Quilt Labels with Spoonflower

Posted on April 1, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

One of the great things that happens at quilt conferences, classes or events is learning about new techniques from other quilters. Several weekends ago when I attended Quiltmaker’s Block Party, I learned a new way to create custom quilt labels from Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts.

In the past, I’ve either made an embroidered quilt label, printed one at home using fabric paper, or hand written one using a fabric marker. I would then hand sew the label to the quilt after completing quilting and binding. That is, if I remembered the label at all!! The problem with this method is that hand sewn labels are not very secure. The stitching could eventually become weakened and the label may fall off (or the label could even be removed at some point). Another issue that I had with home printed labels is that I could never be sure that the printed images would be archival.

Spoonflower to the rescue! What is Spoonflower? It’s an online store where you can create your own custom fabric or purchase custom fabric designs from other people. The beauty of this service is that you can create a simple quilt label as your custom fabric design and upload it to Spoonflower. Your design is then printed on the fabric of your choice and shipped to you.

I created a simple quilt label that is approximately 4 inches by 6 inches using a graphic program on my computer. I used PaintShop Pro, but you can use any graphic program. At the top, I used my initials as well as my name and location. I left the middle of the label blank so I could use a fabric marker to write in the quilt name, date, or any other important details about individual projects. At the bottom, I listed my blog address as well as my blog’s avatar for easy identification. I then drew a grey line for seam allowance around the label.

I got 60 labels printed onto 1 yard of basic white combed cotton for $15.75 plus $3.00 shipping. I got a 10% discount for using my own design.

Here’s a look at the whole yard:

Spoonflower – 1 yd – quilt labels

And here’s a look at 1 label with quilt details added:

Spoonflower Label

My goal with these labels is to piece them directly into quilt backs and quilt through them. The stitching will secure the label permanently to the quilt.

I hope this post inspires you to label your own quilts and maybe try your hand at creating custom labels.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Organizing My Quilting Tools

Posted on July 11, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

I have this great wooden light table that my grandfather made for me when I was in high school. I use it for many quilting and craft projects, including paper piecing and applique.

I realized that the table was too cluttered. I had rulers, rotary cutters, and writing implements all over the top of it. I kept pushing things to the side to make room to work on quilt blocks (using my wonderful combo Omnigrid cutting mat/ironing surface).

So a recent trip to IKEA became a hunt for a small organizer to hang above my light table!

I found a great set in the kitchen section called Fintorp. I purchased 1 rail, 2 sets of hooks, and 3 galvanized caddies.

Next, I decided to use my Cricut to cut some vinyl labels for each caddy.

Here’s the finished product organizer above the table: