Sentimental Stitches In Shops Now!

It's here! My new line of fabric with Henry Glass & Co., Sentimental Stitches has arrived!

The colors are wonderfully rich! And although not Christmas themed, the red and wine, olive green and gold prints would make a quilt or project that would fit in for the holidays, and beyond.

Here is the quilt I just finished binding, using Sentimental Stitches. This is the green version, and I have the red version done and ready to be quilted. You can find the free pattern download HERE.

Sentimental Stitches - Green Version

New Quilt Patterns! Free Spirits and French Reel

My fabric line with Henry Glass Fabrics & Co., Sentimental Stitches, will be shipping to quilt shops next month, and I have two new quilt patterns which feature the line!

Free Spirits quilt pattern

Free Spirits features some of my favorite elements:  birds, flowers and berries. The big 24" appliqued block is surrounded by a dogtooth border and finished with prairie points. I've included a full size applique placement diagram, so placing your applique pieces will be a cinch!

French Reel quilt pattern

French Reel is another small quilt, which features the beautiful Sentimental Stitches striped border print.  The French Reel blocks are 6" square.

 

Here is one of the blocks in the process of being appliqued by machine.

Getting closer!  Do you remember my recent post about making my pressing station? I have really been enjoying it - it makes a huge difference. Above you can see some of my other pressing tools. An iron, of course. This is a Reliable iron, which is great for quiltmaking, as it has an auto shut-off override, and it steams really well, without spitting. Yes, I steam my seams! I use the scrub brush to brush off threads and lint from the fabric covered board. I was using a lint roller previously, but I was going through too many rolls of tape, so this brush works just as well. And finally, the strip stick, just barely visible in back, is wonderful for pressing seams open, without distorting other areas of the quilt. I like to press seams open when joining flying geese together for dogtooth borders to make them nice and flat, and also when joining two dogtooth borders to each other..

Henry Glass Fabrics is having a great giveaway on their blog every week, and this week, starting today, you can enter to win my French Reel quilt pattern, along with a bundle of Kim Diehl fabric! Follow this link to enter!

http://henryglassfabrics.blogspot.com/2014/09/happy-fall.html

Good luck and until next time,

Martha

Machine Applique Versus Hand Applique

I've been using my strike-offs to get a start on making my Sentimental Stitches quilt in both colorways (free pattern download).

Sentimental Stitches Quilt - Green Version

Sentimental Stitches Quilt - Red Version

I love both colorways, so my plan is to try to make both after I receive more fabric. Each quilt is about 56" square with 6" appliqued blocks, so I'm hoping I can get both done.

Here are the blocks I've completed so far. Three blocks for the red version and one block for the green version:

Just for fun, I decided to have a little competition between machine applique and hand applique while making the blocks. I timed how long it would take to make one by machine with turned under edges, and how long it would take to make one with the needle turn hand applique method.  I held out a little hope that needle turn by hand would reign supreme, but unfortunately, it really lost big time. Of course, I have to admit, I was watching a movie part of the time, but during the parts when I had my nose to the grindstone, I would have already finished one by machine.

Why did I want needle turn to win out? Most importantly, I find it so relaxing, and love working with a needle and thread. Second, the preparation of needle turn is a breeze. But, I added the preparation time into the total time, so unfortunately, it didn't make up for the difference in how fast a machine can stitch around the shape versus my hand!

Luckily, they all look nice in the end. Can you tell which one I stitched by hand?

Until next time,

Martha

Mission Accomplished - International Quilt Market Pittsburgh Spring 2014

It was three weeks before I was scheduled to leave for International Quilt Market in Pittsburgh. My challenge was to design and construct a small quilt using fabric from my new new line, Sentimental Stitches, to display in the Henry Glass Fabrics booth. The strike-offs (samples of fabric to test the printing) I had just received, were small, all of them around 11" x 13" in size. It would have to be a mostly appliqued quilt, given the amount of fabric I had to work with.

Here is the design I came up with:

Unfortunately, I didn't have enough of the golden beige seed print for the background, nor the olive tonal lacy bouquet for the stems, so I had to substitute a similar solid for those two fabrics.

I was in such a rush, when I put together the center motif, I didn't pay attention to the placement of the inner green wedges. Darn! I would have to make another one!

Here is the second and better attempt placed onto the solid stems and background. The flowers are in the process of being stitched down.

I finished the quilt top on Tuesday night. Now to quilt it! I pieced together a backing, basted the quilt and began machine quilting. First I outlined each shape, then I finely stippled the background. The dogtooth border I quilted in continuous curves. Finished at 5 pm, Mission Accomplished. Time to pack and leave in the morning.

Here it is displayed in the Henry Glass Fabrics booth:

I also prepared a little sample piece for my demo on how to make skinny stems and perfect appliqued circles:

In between demos at the Henry Glass Fabrics booth, I had a chance to visit the booths of some fellow Arizona designers at quilt market.

Angie Steveson, of Lunch Box Quilts, specializes in machine embroidered applique. Here we are with her newest pattern, Mixed Mutts, behind us:

Nancy Shamy, whose pattern company is Kenzie Mac & Co., designs patterns for quilts, totes, aprons, and home dec., many using jute upholstery webbing:

And last, here I am with Cindy Oates, of Taylor Made Designs. Cindy is a thirty year veteran in the industry, and this year her focus for quilt market was the beginner sewer, with a revamped Pajama Pant and skirt pattern as her latest pattern additions.

Be sure to ask your local quilt shop to bring in Sentimental Stitches!!!

 

Until next time,

Martha

Sentimental Stitches! - My new fabric line with Henry Glass Fabrics

 

 

My Sentimental Stitches fabric line has a subtle sewing theme, with shades of red, olive green, gold and tan. I received strike-offs of the line this past Thursday! They need a little adjusting, but are looking good!

 

 

Here is another print from the line, with little sewing strawberries:

To see more of the line Click Here. The delivery to quilt shops is scheduled for October. Can't wait!

Tomorrow (April 28th) is the first day of the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Blog Tour to kick off the release of Volume 9!

My block is on the cover! Woo Hoo! Here is a quick link to begin the blog tour. Be sure to check in with me on Wednesday, which is my day to blog about my block, and to offer a chance to win a free copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, Vol. 9!
 
http://www.quiltmaker.com/blogs/quiltypleasures/

Until Wednesday,

Martha