anatomy of a HOW

First of all here are my stitched ornaments from last Monday, was a crazy week and I just finished them this morning. I am not real happy with them ( not real thrilled with the colors I chose)...........am a redworker, have trouble choosing more than one or two colors sometimes, lol!!!  AND.....

several have asked how I put the Hexagon Ornaments of the Week (HOW) together............I'm sorry I didn't write better directions.  Am so absent minded that I just assume people know what I meant, forgetting there are other ways to put them together or that there are beginners that need explanation, I am sorry.  Sooo here is how I've been putting together the ornaments lately.

This is where I start. So if you want to keep a nice copy print 2 copies. I cut the pattern apart. 

I cut from thick stiff interfacing for ornament A- 2 of the biggest templates and one of the smaller one, and the same for ornament B, two large, one small.  From FABRIC cut a piece bigger than each of  the templates too, the two smaller ones for each ornament are in your stitch background fabric and the big ones in contrasting fabrics.  The first one I did only has fabric on the back, the second one has 2 pieces of felt for the large templates.   I stitched the felt back before attaching to the front.  I like two sided ornaments and since then I have either added stitching on the back or adding other surprise backs for the people who win my giveaway (are you registered? you have until the Sunday after Dawn Hay's last Frosty Flake posts)  

Here is what I cut for ornament A along with my pieces from last week.

I usually attach the front stitching with some lazy daisy stitches but this week since the stitching intentionally fell off the edges here I just attached the front to the back hiding the stitches between the layers.

Here is the front and one of Dawn's frosty flake outlines for the back.

Then you have to stitch the back to the front like I did on the reindeer one from a couple of weeks ago below, here's the back & front.  (same fabric bad lighting)

match up edges and stitch together like this below.

 

showed the red because the brown and blue was too dark to see on the photo.

BUT WAIT....................

Carrie P from A Passion for Applique cut her fabric larger than I did so it would cover more of the template and appliqued her bird on the the side with the fabric folds, eliminating the need for extra back piece fabric and interfacing.  Look at the beautiful job she did stitching below.  Now if you look close she has her folds to the front and it looks GREAT.  SO yet another way to finish them, Thank you Carrie.  Go visit Carrie and see all the beautiful thing she does.

So I tried on on my ornament B this week

It worked fine,  but wish I had had yardage of this fabric for the back then I could have fussy cut it to get the snowflake in center, but it was a charm square, so it is off center some. added a few stitches on back for interest before I attached front stitching hexie.

will attach a PDF FORM  of tutorial in the morning with my next Monday Mystery HOW #7

Don't forget if you're a quilter with a blog and want to be part of a REALLY BIG giveaway go to Debi's Fall into Fall blog, CLICK on my sidebar for a link.  She's looking for 200 bloggers to participate and thousands to enter?

"snowballs" quilt went to the quilt show shop this morning

My snowballs quilt went to the quilt show/shop this morning, Lori, my stitching buddy also made one and hers is hanging there too, It's so great!!!.  Two completely different versions, one lap size, one bigger.  First picture is the pieces on the design area, not sewn together.  For the second picture while I was at my mom's, I threw it on her bed, didn't realize till later we hadn't smoothed it out on the bed very well...............SORRY, will get better pictures of both quilts this weekend. and.........................

Anna Marie took pictures of Lori and I and our quilts are our Quiltin' Chicks meeting last night.

way better than mine........Thanks Anna Marie!!!

LORI and her BEAUTIFUL QUILT

below is me with my quilt

If you have the SNOWBALLS pattern, email me and I'll send you the directions for mine as soon as they're complete.  now on to assembling the red one, a whole different setting!

If you find your self in the Jefferson City, Missouri area this weekend, head over to the LEWIS & CLARK middle school for a wonderful QUILT SHOW put on every three years (always new showings, no repeats).
Our quilts will be in Linda's Specialty Quilts booth at this show.  I do not have a good picture of mine or Lori's quilts.  Will get some at the show tomorrow or sunday.

quilt show details below:

Missouri River Quilt Guild's A Rainbow of Quilts


June 5 - 6
The 2010 Missouri River Quilt Show, "A Rainbow of Quilts" will be held at the Lewis & Clark Middle School, 325 Lewis and Clark Drive, Jefferson City Missouri 65101. The show will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturnday, June 5, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 6. The show will feature 300 quilts on display, vendors, a textile art boutique, demonstrations, scissor and knife sharpening and tickets for gift baskets and the 2010 Show Quilt. For more information, email missouririverquiltguild@yahoo.com. Tickets are $5. No charge for parking. Building is handicap accessible.

For more information, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MRQG

Have a great day!  Cyndi

My giveaway for 2010 Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day

No it is not my youngest granddaughter, Kylie, nor the baby turkey she's holding, it's this.............

SEW MAMA SEW is hosting a giant giveaway day.  I wanted to give something away but couldn't decide what........so I think I'm going to giveaway all 3 options that have been bouncing around in my head.  

Leave one comment only please and tell me what you would like to receive as the giveaway.  Include a first choice and second choice.  Although it costs more to send things to other countries I will send them where ever you are, so join in the fun.  Giveaway ends midnight May 20th my time CST.   On May 21, 2010 I will pull some names out of my hat box. With all these giveaways, I am going to have to find another hat box or somewhere for the embroidered pieces I store in it to go. ha ha ha!

So these are the 3 giveaway options:

1. From the Mini Mystery #1, the red bird quilt blocks that I made from the mini mystery pattern. 

  

2. A Snowball pattern (pattern only, not the completed blocks), including the 16 original patterns plus the bonus freebie one.  (which reminds me I need to redo that freebie one as a PDF so it will print the correct size). 

3. A Mystery gift package of a few of my other patterns and some fabric.  As soon as I know what I'll post a picture. Hmmmm?!?

After joining in all the givaway fun, you embroiderers come back and join in the mystery stitch. 

Part B will be posted Monday the 17th too.  Here's a look at what we've done so far.....

http://beetreedesigns.blogspot.com/search/label/mystery%20stitch  

PATTERNS

For those of you who've been asking who have "no reply" email addresses,
I sell my patterns through 2 stores at the moment.

Neither of them have the patterns on their web pages, but they do have them in their stores.

Chris, who now owns Patches, Etc inherited that web site and has not updated it because she was handed it about a year ago without a lot of instruction as to modifying/updating it.  She has a very cute store in the historical section of St Charles, Missouri.  They lave a large redwork group and the store has lots of fabrics and patterns.  Many, but not all, of her lines are geared for the antique looking quilts, the 30's, redwork or civil war.  She does have a newsletter she sends out once in awhile with new products, events etc.  

Linda's website for Specialty Quilts is just informational.  Her newsletters are mostly about classes or new services.  Her store is in Jefferson City, Missouri.  She started out doing machine quilting and has expanded her business into a very nice quilt store.  There are lots of fun, pretty fabrics and goodies to be found there.  You will have to CALL or send EMAILS to either one of them to get the patterns.  Either one of them will be able to send you what we need.  If you live outside continental U. S., it may take extra time for them to check on shipping rates.  I'm not sure that whether either one of them has done that.  My guess would be that if anyone did, that Patches has, but I'm not sure.

 CALL Patches Etc. at 1-636-946-6004  or 

EMAIL her at  3patches@prodigy.net

CALL Specialty Quilts  & Fabrics, at 1-573-761-7313  or

  EMAIL her at  specialtyquilts@mchsi.com 

I'm sorry but at this time I would rather not mess with the individual sales end of the pattern business.  That's why I have them at these stores.  Maybe someday I will have an internet store or I could set up a paypal account and get my daughter to handle the shipping end.  She lives in town and would have easy access to UPS or Fed/EX or the post office.   I live 30 miles from there.  We have talked about that before, but have not done anything about it yet.  Sorry! 

pile of snowballs

Only have a few minutes.  here's a quick couple of pictures of the snowball stitcheries.  Am going to set it together with some moda fabrics, found a cute Zippety Doo Dah by Sandy Gervais, couldn't find the other red one I wanted in that line so I got a different moda.  A very nice piece of fabric from a Jan Patek collection, silky smooth, mmm! Now at the store it didn't look too bad, and at night it didn't look too bad.  But in the sunny daylight am re-thinking my sashing choice.  It may be a little too tomatoey for my DMC 498.  In the meantime, take a peek at what I've been doing and part of a setting idea I've been toying with.  Snowballs in snowballs with snowball cornerstones.......................snowball fight!!!!! 

Do you think it's too tomatoey? I know that's not probably a word, but it works for me.

Here are the rest the the SNOWBALL blocks, some are only rinsed out, and haven't been pressed yet.

more later.

about ready to start throwing snowballs (up on the design wall)

woohoo, snowballs here, snowballs there.  If my camera would work I would show you the pile.  If I was at home tonight I would have thrown the sashing fabric down there with them. BUT YOU KNOW HOW LIFE GOES..if if if ......today was "cars breaking down" day, first daughters, then mine.  Fortunately mine was only a flat tire.  Hers, however, was a two day job and so she needs a ride to work, Mom to the rescue..........
anyway,  14.5 blocks are done 1.5 to go.  Saturday is my "done with the stitching portion and time for the sewing portion" goal so that I can assemble the blocks into a top.  Our Quiltin'chicks group is having a hen party, a 10-3 sit and sew.  I can't wait, good friends, lots of laughs, crunch and munch food, hopefully no unstitching!  Whether I'm done with the embroidery or not, they will be set into the top.  I can always finish embroidering them that way.  They'll just be a little more cumbersome, but not impossible.  I did get patterns packaged individually and complete sets to Patches, Etc and Specialty Quilts, but the directions for a complete quilt are still a little sketchy until this weekend. Now I haven't even finished this quilt and have sketches for a couple more pattern ideas in the works.  Just how long can one do without sleep? LOL!

snowballs, had enough yet?

Since most of the U.S. is covered with snow, I thought I'd entice you with a little more. My latest creation Snowballs, 16 - 6.5" designs done in red or blue are going to be lots of fun. Do one or all, I even reduced them in size and did some little bitty. enjoy! For patterns call Chris or Linda at the numbers at the top if you'd like.