Long overdue

Ok, I know it's been well over a month since my last post. I know I keep saying but seriously, where does the time go!

Thank you all so much for your votes and wonderful compliments on my quilt. I'm saddened to say I didn't make the top 3, I guess I just don't know enough people! It's all good though because in the end I have really fun quilt that I totally would have procrastinated quilting for years if I hadn't had a deadline.

I have been really, really busy this fall. Here's a smidgeon of what I've been up to.
I put together the scraps left over from this quilt:

to make this:

I was going to make another wall hanging, but Pattie suggested making a pillow, which is a fantastic idea. I like the longer pillows on a couch. Now I have to quilt it and make a pillow out of it!

I got these fantastic Chicago watercolor prints from old United Airlines travel books from the Megan Morrison store closing sale. One is from 1948, the other from 1952 (I think it's a 2).

They cost me $1 each! Don't ask how much the framing cost. I completely love them. The inner matting is a really dark navy blue. I tried all manner of greys and blacks, but nothing was working for me. The girl at the Michael's framing counter suggested navy, and by jove, that was it! The people in the Buckingham Fountain print all have hats and 40's clothes. It's fabulous. And the one of the river is not a view of Chicago that you find very often, so I really like it as well.

I got a cute make-your-own white board kit at JoAnn's in the clearance aisle for $3. I added the gorgeous Tanya Whelan paisley fabric to the frame. It took me an hour and 35 mins because of the amount of time I agonized over which fabric to commit to. It took an hour and half do decide, and then 5 minutes to make. Pathetic, huh?

 So now I have a place to list the projects with due dates. And the list is LARGE. 13 to be exact. Most are commissions though, which is good since I just recently discovered that coming in January is Rouenneries Deux!!

I know, be still my heart right?.

I lost my camera for a month, but found it last night in a pile of quilts of all places, go figure. Some more of what I've been up to that I haven't photographed yet:

A ginourmous t-shirt quilt.

Designing and making a yoga bag

Emily's baby quilt (there's a glimpse of it below)

and several other things that are totally escaping me at the moment!

Posts w/pretty pictures to follow. I promise.

Oh, and I have to totally do a shout out the White Wizard! I got my sewing machine oiled and it got on a couple of bags I made, and the only thing that got the stains out was the White Wizard. It seriously was magical in it's stain removal! It didn't harm or discolor the fabric in any way either.

I got it on a whim when it was on clearance at Restoration Hardware last summer, so I have no clue who else carries it. I'm sure the wonder of the internet can find it though!

Votes Needed!

I'm totally thrilled to share that my Riley Blake Upsy Daisy quilt was chosen to be one of the top 10 finalists in the Riley Blake contest!

Now the contest is opened up to public voting to choose the winner, so I need to ask all of you to vote for me and then ask everyone you know to also vote for me!
You can see all the finalists and vote here: http://www.rileyblakedesigns.com/cutting-corners/contest/ or here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Riley-Blake-Designs/217428743660

Click the 'vote now' and scroll to the Upsy Daisy quilt and click the 'vote' button.
If I win, this is the fabulous prize:

Photo courtesy of the Riley Blake blog.  You can see more photos there.

Here are more photos of my quilt:

Quilting angle:

Border quilting. Even the ric rac is Riley Blake!

I got the small floral for the backing from Lorrie and Paige and filled it in w/scraps from the front.


Lorrie let me photograph it on her lovely Robin's Egg blue wall in her studio. I love it on that wall. I have a Tiffany Blue bathroom that it would also look great in, but it's way too large for that room.
That's all I have time for right now, I'm off to the dentist this morning! Too much fun, I know.
Thank you for everyone for your support and votes, it's greatly appreciated!
Happy Quilting,
Vicki

Tools, tips and tricks - Working with Minky

I use Minky (or Minkee, depending on the manufacturer) quite often in my quilt projects and get a lot of questions about how difficult it is to sew with.

I've found that I really like having Minky on the back of the quilt because it glides so nicely across your machine bed when quilting on your home machine. The only catch is that you must be sure that it's totally wrinkle free when making your quilt sandwich and you need to make sure you pin the layers together with less space between the pins than normal. This is not a problem for me, since I pin the bejeezes out of all of my quilt sandwiches. The quilt is rather heavey though, between the Minky and the plethora of pins.

When cutting Minky, I find it to be more accurate if you put it plush side together. Fair warning, have the vacuum ready, it gets fuzz everywhere! 

I use a 1/2" seam and walking foot for Minky to Minky sewing. I can usually get away with a 1/4" seam and using my 1/4" foot for Minky / cotton piecing. I usually use less presser foot tension than I would normally for cotton/cotton sewing.

Piecing with Minky is a totally different animal. Due to it's stretchiness and loft, it tends to move and shift a lot. When piecing, Minky to Minky or Minky to cotton or flannel, I've found the following tips have helped me to keep things the correct size, shape and keep shifting to a minimum.

1) Fold your Minky piece in half and mark the center with a pin. Do the same with the other fabric you are sewing the Minky to.

2) Match the two center pins from each fabric and pin together at midpoint. Then pin the ends the pieces together on the right and left corners.

3) Fill in between the center pin and corner pins, spacing pins an inch or less apart. I find it best to put the points toward the edge to be sewn for this project.

4) If using a 1/2" seam and walking foot, mark your 1/2" line on the machine with something that has a raised edge. (see photo below)

I use a self-stick, removable sewing edge tool, but it's lost it's stickiness due to Minky fuzz, so I tape it down. A post-it note pad would work as well. I've also used multiple layers of Duct Tape in a pinch. It really helps to have a nice ridge to line the pieces up on to keep it all moving together evenly. When using Minky / cotton, my 1/4" foot has that ridge attached to it already.

That's really it to making Minky easier to work with.  I hope you give it a whirl if you haven't already. It's so soft and fuzzy and makes a great baby quilt, or for that matter, any age quilt! Everyone who's petted the Minky requests it for their quilt.