Tulip Tiles Block of the Month Block 7

Finally had time to get to the computer and get BOM Block 7 directions posted.  Yippeee.  Sorry they are a few days late.  I was catching up housekeeping chores I had neglected for too long. 

This month the BOM corner triangles for the on-point setting are posted, and they are cute, cute, cute.  You will be making 4 of these sweeties and the directions are posted HERE.  These sweet little white on blue tulips remind me so much of the fabulous delft decorative pieces that I so love to collect.  I should take some pictures of my kitchen so you know can see my collection!  I love all things blue and white.

The first two pictures are in my china cabinet.  I have a lot of pieces of the windmill tea pots and sugar bowl sets.  The small pieces of white ironstone are a favorite as well.  The photo on the left with the blue willow teapots (the one in front was my Mother's) are special favorites.

I love cannisters, especially old blue and white ones, but the picture below shows a few green and white paste porcelain cannisters I have collected over the year.  I have a teapot to match the Sugar and Tea cannisters, but ran out of room on the shelf to display it!

The picture below is over my back sliding door in my dining room.  I saw a similar shelf in a home decorating catalog a few years back and asked my husband to build one for me.   I line it with my collection of little blue and white pitchers.

The little dutch houses are on my windowsill in the kitchen.

The cannisters are on my countertop next to my stove in the kitchen.  I did the tile work myself a number of years ago to go with the blue and white theme.  I did great until the dog chewed the cord off the tile saw!

The last picture below is right over my range top.  I found the blue and white large tile in an antique shop and wanted to put it right where I could see it when I cooked.  LOL

Ok, well that is probably more blue and white stuff than you can stand, but I guess now you know why I love the color scheme of this BOM so much.  And to everyone's suprise, this is the first time I have designed a dutch themed quilt!

Now for my collection of dutch themed embroidery designs and iron on transfers. . . ok, I guess I can save that for another time.  :o)

Next month we will build all the sashings for the quilt top and then we will be ready to assemble the whole beastie.  Hope you have been working hard on your blocks!  I will be goint to a retreat in July, and I plan to get my top put together then along with you, and finally. . . post some pictures of the real deal quilt for you all to see.

And The Winnner Is. . .

Today is Friday, and in addition to a big TGIF day, it is also the day I pull a winner to the 75,000 visits Give Away!  Can't you feel the excitement rising!!  So here is how I drew the winner.  I asked one of my colleagues at work to pick a number between 1-41 (the number of comments) and write it down on a sticky note.  So based on this totally random luck of the draw, the winner is. . . .

Rhonda G!

Congratulations and please send me your snail mail address so I can mail your FQ's to you!

Now, because you all had such nice things to say, and some really great suggestions, I decided to give away a second prize.  This is a pile of 1/2 yard cuts of pink and blue 30's Barbara Brackman fabric, all tied up in a blue ribbon,  which came out a few years ago. This will make an adorable baby quilt.  Using the same totally random method, I pulled a second winner.  So the second prize goes to. . .

Scraphappy

Congratulations and please send me your snail mail address so I can mail your stack-o-fabric to you!  It is so much fun to give things away!!

Thanks to all of you who commented on the things you liked and offered suggestions.  It was great to hear from so many of you, and it gave me an opportunity to go out and read your blogs, as many of you also have them.  I love reading your blogs and hearing about your quilty activities.  Thanks, and keep up the great work.

Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler Row F6-F10 Plus Bonus Piecing Tips

This weekend I finished Row 7 of my local quilt shop’s Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler BOM.  These blocks were pretty simple to do and I think they came out remarkably square!  Go figure! :o)

The star block did pose some tricky piecing, so I wanted to share a few hints to help you do this block accurately.  The directions have you strip piece the diamond pieces and this works slick.  But when you go to sew your pairs of diamonds together it is really hard to get the points to match.  When you put them right sides together you have to put a pin in the place where the 2 seams come together.  That can be really tedious, and doesn’t always end up in a match.  So here is what I did:

Line the seam up like the picture below.  Make sure you have pressed the seam allowances in opposite directions so the seam nests together nicely.  The two patches should just meet at the seam line.

Put this unit under the presser foot so that the needle pierces the seam and the presser foot aligns with the edge of the top patch.

Lift the presser foot, but not the needle. Hold onto the top patch and pivot the lower patch counter-clockwise, leaving the needle in place until they are aligned with each other.
     
Now stitch from this center point to the end of the seam.  Then flip the patch over and sew the other half of the patch, overlapping your stitching in the middle (over the seam).
The stitching should begin and end where the two patches intersect on both ends.  Doing it this way insures that the ends match and the center point matches perfectly.
  
Press the seam open on the back and trim up the patch to get rid of the dog ears.  The finished diamond four patch should look like this:
  Then you are ready to add the 2 triangles to complete the unit.
Using this technique I was able to zip through all 8 diamond four patches for the blocks really fast, and everyone of them matched!  Shazam!
  
The block goes together much easier this way, and the centers and seams are easier to match. 
Whoo hooo, I love it when a plan comes together!!

Reeze

75,000 Visit!! Its time for another Give-Away

Wow, I am just amazed that in a little over a year my blog has received  more thatn 75,000 visits!  All I can say is THANKS!  I am tickled that so many of you have come to visit my blog, download my free Block of the Month and look at the quilt eye candy I try to post for you.  In honor of my 75,000 visits milestone I am offering 2 (count em! 2) goodies for my readers!

First I am going to give away a FQ bundle in fabulous fall fabrics.  To enter, leave a comment on this post letting me know what you like best about my blog -- or -- what you would like to see more of on my blog!  As a teacher, I am always looking for suggestions!!

Second, I am adding a new PAGE to my blog.  In addition to my Free BOM, I am adding a FREE EQ DOWNLOADS page.  I design a bazzillion quilts using EQ and thought I would share those files with my EQ buddies.  The files will be in EQ6 format so you can use them with EQ6 or EQ7.  Download the files and enjoy making the quilts!  Just remember, they are copyrighted designs.  Use them, but don't sell them please.

Oh and here are the FQ's for the give away, cuz we all need a little quilty eye candy every day to stay healthy!

I’m so excited!

I have been away camping for the past two week, relaxing in the wilds of the Mohican River Valley of Central Ohio, and various states along the way between Ohio and Kansas.  This was the 34th reunion of my college friends who meet every Memorial Day weekend on the banks of the Mohican River to get re-acquainted, tell each other the same stories and jokes we told last year, and pretend we don’t all look a year older.  It is so much fun to relive our youths one weekend a year as we go tubing down the river, play Frisbee golf, and sing songs around the camp fire.
Ok, so much for travel, the real exciting news is on page 26 of the newest Keepsake Quilting Catalog!! One of my new patterns, the April Charming Botanical Sweet Pea Table Runner pattern is included in the catalog as a pattern as as a kit.  WOW.  This is the first time one of my patterns has appeared in a publication, and I can hardly contain my excitement.  This has been a popular pattern in the quilt shops so I guess that is why they selected it among all my other patterns.  Plus they probably needed a small project that featured 30’s repro fabric.  Whatever their reasons, I am tickled.  :-)
I am also catching up on a few of my sewing and design projects.  I am way behind on my Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler Blocks.  So that is at the top of my list this week.  I just finished two sets of Lady of the Lake blocks for a swap, and those will get mailed off today.  I am designing a new BOM for my guild starting in July and wrote up the instructions for that over the weekend.  In the past the BOM’s have been appliqué.  I know there are wonderful appliquérs in our guild, but I wanted to offer a pieced BOM for all of those non-applique people.  Here is sneak peek of the two colorways I am using for this BOM.

And for those of you who ordered EQ7 from me. . . good news!  I received 3 BOXES!!!! of EQ7 programs and upgrades and have been packaging them and shipping them in batches.  The first group went out on Friday and the next batch will go in the mail Monday morning.  I should have them all packaged and shipped by the end of this week, so keep your eyes peeled for 1) an email from me saying I have shipped yours, and 2) a package in the mail with your copy!!  Please let me know when you receive your program so I know it arrived safely.  Thanks to all of you who ordered EQ7 programs and upgrades.  I know you will love playing with all the new features. 

Hope your weekend was fun too!