Jaftex 85th Birthday Celebration and blog hop

Jaftex is the parent company of Henry Glass & Co., Studio e Fabrics, and most recently Blank Quilting Corp. An exciting blog hop starts tomorrow to celebrate their 85th birthday! The co-sponsors of some wonderful prizes are Aurifil threads, Janome, and Schmetz Needles!

Please join me on September 7th for the blog hop and all of these wonderful designers working under the Jaftex umbrella!

September 1 - Kim Diehl guest posting @ American Patchwork & Quilting

September 2 - Pepper @ Pepper at the Quilt Studio 

September 3 - Anjeanette @ Anjeanette Klinder 

September 4 - Leanne @ The Whole Country Caboodle   

September 5 - Mark @ Mark Lipinski's Blog

September 6 - Heather @ Heather Kojan Quilts  

September 7 - Heather @ Trends and Traditions  

September 7 - Martha @ Wagons West Designs  

September 8 - Linda @ Linda Lum DeBono 

September 9 - Heidi @ Red Letter Quilts 

September 10 - Jill @ Jillily Studios  

September 10 - Dana @ My Lazy Daisy  

September 11 - Penny @ Sew Simple Designs  

September 12 - Ida @ Cowtown Quilts 

September 13 - Liz and Beth @ Lizzie B Cre8ive  

September 14 - Melissa @ Sew Bitter Sweet Designs

September 15 - Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl    

September 16 - Amy @ Kati Cupcake 

September 16 - Barbara @ QuiltSoup2 

September 17 - Erica @ Kitchen Table Quilting 

September 18 - Leona @ Leona's Quilting Adventure 

September 19 - Margot @ The Pattern Basket  

September 20 - Sylvia @ Flying Parrot Quilts   

September 21 - Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts  

September 22 - Kim @ Aurifil Threads  

September 23 - Rebekah @ Don't Call Me Becky   

September 24 - Julie @ The Crafty Quilter 

September 25 - Mary Ellen @ Little Quilts  

September 25 - Mary Jane @ Holly Hill Designs 

September 26 - Daisy @ Ants to Sugar

September 27 - Melissa @ Happy Quilting

September 28 - Janet @ One S1ster

Applique and Quarter Triangle Squares

Recently, I had the pleasure of working with fabrics from some upcoming fall Moda fabric collections, such as Alice's Scrapbag, Eliza's Indigo, Hawthorne Ridge, and more, some of which I incorporated into my new quilt. I can't unveil the entire quilt yet, but here is a portion of the pretty swag border:

Blocks made with "Quarter of a square" triangles, or quarter square triangles, for short, are also incorporated into the quilt, and here are a few blocks that didn't make their way into the quilt:

I think these blocks are so much fun to make (much more so than triangle squares, in my humble opinion), so I thought I would add this little tutorial on 2 different ways to make a 4 inch finished quarter square triangle block, just in case you haven't made one yourself yet.

METHOD 1

The first method will yield two finished 4 inch blocks. You will need 1 - 5 1/4" square in a light fabric, and 1 - 5 1/4" square in a darker fabric. On the lighter fabric, mark a diagonal line from corner to corner with a contrasting marking tool (in this case I used a pencil), and again from the opposite corner.

Place the squares right sides together, with the marked square on top. Stitch 1/4" away on both sides of ONE marked diagonal line as shown:

Next, cut apart on BOTH marked diagonal lines.

Open each unit and press seams towards darker triangle. You will now have four units. Arrange two units so that light and dark are opposite and place right sides together. Stitch a 1/4" seam along the long edge of triangles.

Press seam to one side. Pressing the seam open works, too.

METHOD 2

  

Here is a second way to make 4 inch finished quarter triangle squares. This method yields one block. I like this method for using 5 1/2" charm squares. The only drawback to this method is that the four sides of the finished block are on the bias. I wouldn't make a whole quilt using only blocks with bias edges, but incorporating a few here and there is fine, especially when those bias edges match up to an edge on the straight of grain.

You will need to cut 2 - 3 3/4" squares, one light and one darker (or to contrast). Place right sides together, and stitch a 1/4" seam on opposite sides of the square.

The gray 2610 Aurifil thread that I used to blend with scrap patchwork worked all too well for this photograph. Sorry!

Next, cut the sewn squares in half ONCE diagonally as shown:

There will be a small amount of thread on one end of each unit, but when you open the unit up, the thread will pull out very easily.

Just as a reminder, the edges on the square using this method, will all be on the bias, so carefully press the seams to one side. Place each unit right sides together, and sew a 1/4" seam along the long edge of triangle. Open, and press seam.

The block will be slightly larger than 4 1/2" unfinished, so using a ruler with a 45 degree angle marked as shown, match the 45 degree angle to the diagonal seams, and trim the block to 4 1/2".

Trim one corner

 

 

 

Flip square around and trim the other corner

More beautiful blocks to add to my orphan block drawer!

Until next time!

Martha

My exciting news

Yes, I have been away from my blog for too long! I was sick with a virus for most of April and then it was followed with a head cold for the first two weeks of May! Needless to say, once I started feeling human again, I had a lot to do! I was also glad to be feeling better as we had a very special graduation to attend in May - our youngest son graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelors degree in Linguistics. It was a very busy but fun weekend!

Now, for my good news - I was over-the-moon excited to find out last week that I was selected as one of the 23 finalists for a new exhibit to be held at International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas this coming October, curated by Primitive Quilts and Projects Magazine. The quilts in the Primitive and Folk Art exhibit are meant to represent and promote the primitive and folk art style.

And, not only that, but my quilt "Annie's Scrapbook" was awarded third place in the Original Pattern Design category. Whoo hoo!

Annie's Scrapbook

I can't wait to see all of the the other quilts hanging - it's sure to be a great exhibit.

Hopefully, I will be back to blog soon about some of the projects I've been working on - and maybe a new fabric line, too!

Until next time!
Martha

Pinterest

My friend Ingrid was over yesterday, giving me some feedback on a new fabric line I'm working on. She asked me if I was on Pinterest, and I told her I had opened an account, but had never done anything more. I didn't really know how it all worked, or how to get started. 

Well, she spent the next 2 hours helping me get set up, and showed me a lot about how it all worked. And I'm pretty sure I spent another 2 hours adding even more stuff. I'm still a little unsure of myself, but I was able to get a few boards started. All thanks to my Pinterest guru, Ingrid. She also said that now I have to get followers. Oh no, how do I do that? So, if you're reading this, Please help! I would love to have you follow my Pinterest boards!  https://www.pinterest.com/w9639/

I also figured out I need a few more things to pin, so I thought I would post a few photos of quilts I haven't posted here on my blog before.

So... here we go. This is one of my favorite quilts, "Celebrate Christmas", from Be Merry:

Celebrate Christmas

And here is a close up of Candy Cane Nine Patch, from Vintage Christmas:

detail, Candy Cane Nine Patch

Enjoying Spring

For most of this month I worked on the first quilt for a future book. Here are some tester Blazing Star blocks and some final blocks for the quilt:

I came up with an unorthodox way to assemble this block with stress free results. The fun part (not) will be writing the instructions for it! Ha! The quilt is done, and I love the way it turned out.

I love to sit inside and stitch away, but I also need to get outside and enjoy a little sunshine. I've been trying to take advantage of the weather before it gets up to 1000 degrees here.

A little hiking.....

The so-called Lost Ranch Mine ruins

On the steep trail past the ruins

 And a little spring training baseball....

Dodgers vs. Angels program

And also this month, lucky me, for a special occasion, my husband bought me something I've always wanted - an antique thread cabinet.

Right now, I have the thread cabinet setting on top of my Grandma's treadle sewing machine cabinet. The quilt hanging is an 1840 crib quilt I purchased, and folded on top of the cabinet is "Practice", a four patch crib quit from my book, Be Merry.

Until next time,

Martha

Bits and Pieces

The new year rolled in, and found me hunched over my drawing table working on a proposal for a new fabric line. In between drafting, drawing and painting, I would squeeze in a little time for hiking .....

Picacho Peak

Sycamore Canyon Wilderness

Old building on route to the trailhead

and stitching a variety of works in progress......

All nine wheels finished piecing! Ugh, now to press!

Several hours later, they are all nice and flat

Four appliqued corner squares finished!

Now that some of the bits and pieces are put together I can finally finish a few projects!

Valentine's Day is just a few days away, so I'll leave you with this adorable vintage card as my greeting to you - Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Until next time,

Martha

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 10

It's that time again for another volume of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks.

This time, it's Volume 10!

To commemorate the 10th Volume of the series, Quiltmaker Magazine put together this cute video:

Yes, I'm in there!

The Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 10 Blog Tour starts next week, November 17th. Prizes, prizes, prizes!

Until next time,

Martha

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

Halloween 1916

Last year my mother had a question for me. She had some costumes that my grandma had made when she was a school teacher, for her to dress up in to entertain her students. She asked me if I would be interested in taking them. One of the costumes was for Halloween.

My grandma was a schoolteacher in rural Kansas, who began teaching, as far as we can tell, as early as 1916. Below are two of the "school souvenirs" from 1916 and 1917, listing her as the teacher and the list of students in each grade.

1916 School Souvenir, Meter School, Republic Co., Kansas

1917 School Souvenir, Dry Lake School, Republic Co., Kansas

Here is the costume she made for Halloween. It has a lot of raw edges, but even so, it must have taken a lot of effort to make. It also has a black "Little Miss Muffet" type hat to go with it.

We think this may be a photo of one of her class of students:

I'm also lucky to have my Grandma's postcard album. The postcards are all from the early 1900's. One of my favorites, is a Halloween postcard featuring a witch, a black cat, and a pumpkin boy. I scanned the postcard, printed the scan onto cardstock, and decoupaged the print onto a black box, so that I can enjoy the image without light damaging the original postcard.

As you can see below, my cupboard is filled with all kinds of vintage inspired Halloween fun stuff! My friend, Ingrid, had a party for friends one year, where she planned crafts for us to make. It was so much fun! She had all of the supplies all ready to go for us.  The "Boo" banner, the little candy baskets and the pipe cleaner figures were all made that evening.

My "Boo" banner made its way into my "Party Girl" punchneedle, too.

When my youngest son was in first grade, I threw a Halloween party for him, with a variety of games for he and his friends to play, one of which was Bunco. For this Bunco game, I made Halloween themed dice, using purchased stickers with vintage Halloween images, and wooden blocks, which I painted in orange and black to contrast with the stickers.  The box was purchased years before at a gift shop and I love it!

Halloween Bunco

Like they said in 1916, Happy Hallowe'en!

Martha

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