Happy 4th and Free Pattern

Happy independence day to all! I am feeling especially patriotic after hanging a quilt I made when I taught Jan Patek's "Girl Gang" several years ago at a local quilt shop. The name of the pattern is "Flags of the American Revolution", and is definitely a favorite of mine. I've decided to have the quilt hang in our living room for the remainder of the summer so that we can enjoy it for a few more months.

As promised, here is the link for the "Regency T-Stars" pattern, which is a free download via Marcus Fabrics' web site. I'm showing the quilt again for those of you that missed it the first time I blogged about it. This quilt finishes at 68" x 77" and is super easy and fun to make.

I wish you all an enjoyable and safe holiday celebration!

Vicki

Making an Ironing Board Cover

I spent the month of June primarily working on whittling away at my "to do" list. One of the projects I wanted to complete was to make a new ironing board cover that would look nice in my quilting room. Because my new colors are tan, white and red, I chose a red stripe twill. If I would have known making a new cover was so easy, I would have made it months ago! From start to finish, it only took about an hour.

Here are the basic steps to follow if you'd like to try it:

1. Turn ironing board upside down onto the wrong side of the fabric and trace all the way around the board. (Leave old cover on, as you will need to iron in Step #4)

2. Mark approximately 4” out from the traced line all the way around and cut out.

3. Serge or zig-zag raw edge.

4. Press an approximate ¾” hem all the way around cover and pin in place, easing in fullness as needed. Stitch approximately 5/8” from pressed edge, leaving a 2" opening and backstitching at the beginning and end of the hem.

5. Cut a piece of ¼” cording the length of the outside perimeter of the ironing board plus 12”. Insert a safety pin into one end of the cording and insert through hem. (I wrapped the end with tape before I inserted safety pin.)

6. With ironing board standing up, center the cover over the board and pull both ends of the cording until taut. Tie off.

I'm going to be curious to see how this cover holds up compared to the store-bought covers I usually buy. Regardless, it looks so much better, coordinates with my decor and I can now cross off one of my "to dos"!!

And the winners are. . .

Just returned from a wonderful weekend in the mountains where we didn't exactly escape the heat, as it was in the mid-90's all weekend. But, I did manage to get a ton of paper piecing done while sitting outdoors among the pine trees, but in the shade!!

With the help of random.org, the six winners of the pin cushions have been selected. If your name is listed below, please e-mail me at vickibellino@charter.net with your mailing address. You can also let me know which pin cushion you would like and I will try to accommodate on a first-come, first-serve basis. The winners are:

#4 - VaNella

#9 - Deb

#12 - Mary on Lake Pulaski

#21 - Tamara

#31 - roccagal from Ontario

#35 - sipiweske quilts (Marlene)

Congrats to the winners! Hope you are all having an enjoyable weekend.

Vicki

Kentucky Fun, Summer Sale & a Give-Away!

I returned from teaching two English paper piecing classes in Kentucky feeling so energized! There’s something so rewarding and exciting about teaching a technique I am so passionate about to others and then experiencing their enthusiasm. Classes were held at the most adorable, quaint shop in LaGrange called “The Gathering Room”. If any of you are ever in that area, this is a shop you won’t want to miss!

Summer has definitely arrived in my neck of the woods, with 100 degree weather forecasted all week. But, summertime means lots of fun and I always look forward to it. Taking our granddaughters camping and our yearly trip to Sisters, Oregon for the big Sisters Quilt Show are on the agenda for the month of July. To celebrate one of my favorite times of the year, Bloom Creek is having a 25% sale on all patterns and notions from today through Sunday, June 28th. Just type in the coupon code “Summer Fun” to receive the discount when you check out.

Finally, it's time for another give-away! I made these pin cushions for the EPP classes I taught and would now like to give them away to you! There will be six winners, so post a comment and your name will be entered in the drawing. The winners will be announced the morning of Sunday, 6/28.

Good luck and happy quilting to you all!

And the winner is. . . .

Good morning! Thanks to everyone for posting such nice comments about the Regency T-Star kit. A winning number was drawn (www.random.org) this morning, and the winner is. . . .

#75 - Congrats to Barb!!

Barb, e-mail me (vickibellino@charter.net) with your mailing address and the kit will be sent off to you tomorrow.

Hope all of you are having an enjoyable weekend. I'm leaving for Kentucky in 3 days to teach two English paper piecing classes and will post about it when I return.

Let's have a give-away!!

Happy June everyone! What better way to celebrate the beginning of summer vacation than with a give-away! In one of my more recent posts, I shared a photo of the Regency T-Star quilt I made for Marcus Fabrics with Judie Rothermel’s new Regency III fabric line that she designed for The New England Quilt Museum. If you didn’t see that post, here is a picture of the quilt.

Thanks to my friends at Marcus Fabrics, I received enough fabric to put together a kit to make all of the blocks shown in this 68” x 77” quilt. Included with the kit are seven yards of fabric, the instruction sheet and an 8 x 10 photo of the quilt for reference. Here is a link where you can view each of the skus in this line: http://www.marcusfabrics.com/cgi-bin/fabricgallery/gallery.cgi?Category=498

Not only is this quilt very simple to make, it was so much fun to quilt! Here is a close-up of how I quilted the blocks.
The instruction sheet for this project will be available as a free download through Marcus Fabrics’ web site on July 1st. (I originally posted that it would be available June 1st, but it got pushed back a month.)

Leave a comment on this post if you would like a chance to win this kit. A winner will be drawn on Sunday, 6/14. Good luck!!

To-Do List for June

With quilt market behind me, I’ve made a commitment to finish decorating and reorganizing my quilting room before I begin designing with all of the wonderful fabric I brought back with me from Pittsburgh.

First on the list is to organize my fabric closet. On a recent shopping trip to Ikea (too bad it’s a 3-hour drive from where I live, as I would be a frequent shopper!!), I found the perfect storage boxes for my fabric and was so excited to find them in red, since red is the “theme” color in my quilting room. I came home with six boxes, but will be ordering at least that many more!

Next is my ironing board cover project. I don’t know about you, but the ironing board covers in the stores are so not appealing and because I have an oversized board, I can never remember which stores carry the right size. Since I have to look at my ironing board every day, I’ve decided to make my own. I chose a red stripe twill and will begin this project by making a template of the top of my ironing board. Should be pretty easy! If it turns out like I have envisioned, I’ll share a photo of it within a week (or so. . .)

Do you ever find things you forgot you had and are so excited to rediscover them?!?!? I bought this 36” x 45” pre-printed panel many months ago with the idea that I would quilt it and hang it in my new, red quilting room. This panel is from Minick & Simpson’s Flag Day Farm line.

The panel is pre-marked with quilting designs, so half the work is already done! Because I love to machine quilt, this is a project I am really excited to start.

Once all of the above is finished, I will then tackle some of the unfinished quilt projects. Wish me luck!