Crazy Cushion Class

October 30, 2018October 27, 2018 Elizabeth E.12 Comments

If you could scroll down for just a second and locate on the right blog sidebar where there is a link to a video titled Create. This was taken from a talk from one of the leaders of my church, and if you are not a religious type, then substitute in your version of God for what Elder Uchtdorf says. I watch it everyone once in a while to remind me that what I do is more than stitching, or cutting up pretty cloth. Being creative is my connection to — and a conduit for — the divine.

I had an inkling of the power of a lot of creative women, when I attended Becky McDaniel’s class for her Crazy Cushion pattern. Yes, there was fatigue and frustration, but there was also a spirit of wanting to create (above, watching a demo).

My workspace. I had a nice visit with the two quilters at my table, Sandie and Marie (absent), and was totally impressed with the women in the Nite Owl Guild.

Becky was energetic, funny and taught some new skills: like working with a light table while paper piecing, and we all promptly handed over our cash to buy her cool flat light table, while stories swirled around about the light tables we had at home.

Yeah, we weren’t in this room, but the ping-pong table was. The class was held in the Senior Center for a nearby town and was a great place to have a workshop. Below, Becky’s table of supplies.

Even though I had all my sections pre-pieced, at this point I felt like I’d run a marathon, just getting that welting stitched in between the flying geese band and the cushion top/back. The band includes a handle for carrying (seen serpentining in the photo above).

More than one use for those binding clips.

Because of all my sewing beforehand, I was able to finish my cushion. Above, the photo with Becky McDaniels.

I posed my cushion with hers (the larger of each). Mine measures 14″ x 2″ and hers is 16″ x 3.” If you decided to take this class, do your homework beforehand, if you have done paper-piecing before, so you can have a finish, too.

And then outside in their gardens, before leaving.

Now I’ll have something to sit on when I go to workshops!

The pattern can be found on her website, along with more information.
Kaffe Fasset fabrics recently purchased at Blue Bird Quilt Shop, near me, including that cool stripe.
I use transluscent vellum paper by Neenan for my paper piecing because I can see through it and it rips off easily. I purchased a ream about 10 years ago from Kelly Paper, and it cost way more than I wanted, but hey–10 years use? Not bad.

Guild Visits

Guild Visit, and a little stitching for NASA’s JPL Mars

October 27, 2018October 27, 2018 Elizabeth E.8 Comments

Parachute 1.png

Just to show you that every stitch counts, NASA has been testing a parachute to help with their Mars missions.

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I love that the announcer mentions “miles and miles of thread” and “over three million stitches” in the video; he’s speaking my language.

Valley Modern Quilt Guild

I’ll be speaking more of that language when I visit the Valley Modern Quilt Guild on Monday, October 29th, with a workshop to follow on Saturday, November 3rd. The Guild talk begins at 7:00 p.m. at High Tech High School (Van Nuys) and the Workshop (see photos below) is held from 10-4 at Calabasas High School (Calabasas). Looking forward to meeting new quilty folks and enjoying the creative mojo of their guild!

Crossroads_1 Betty Crocker Qlting_4

Classes · Creating · stitchery

Prepping my Crazy Cushion Class

October 24, 2018November 5, 2018 Elizabeth E.15 Comments

Crazy Cushion Class_1

When I was visiting the South Bay Quilters, they had one class in their line-up which intrigued me: Becky McDaniels’ Crazy Cushions class.

Covet.

I found a guild closer to me offering it, and the class is this coming Saturday.

Crazy Cushion Class_2

But since I am not a quick foundation paper piecer, I knew I should get some done before the class.

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This is what I use–it’s made by Neenah Paper.

Vellum Paper.jpg

I use a vellum paper, purchased at Kelly Paper, for my paper-piecing. I can see through it, and it’s crisp, so it tears off easily. I know the price looks high, but there are 500 sheets in there, and the last ream I purchased lasted me almost 10 years. If you go to order it online, use the number by the manager’s finger.

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Once side of the cushion is Pineapple, and the other is called Star Jasmine. And then there are a lot of flying geese for the cushion sides.

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We’ve also been movingmovingmoving stuff around upstairs and my quilting machine has a new place to live for a while, until I can figure out how I want to configure my sewing room.

I remember corresponding with another quilter and when I told her my sewing room was about 9 feet by 10 feet, she wondered how I could ever sew in such a tiny space. Well…it’s what I have. I will confess to having spilled over into the guest room, where that Sweet Sixteen is currently residing.

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My daughter just built an RV garage onto their existing three-car garage, and I wouldn’t mind taking over that space, but she lives several hours from me, so (sadly) not feasible. Besides I’d have to share it with their vehicles. I guess I’m thrilled to have a room dedicated to my own messes, my own stuff, so it never occurred to me that my room was too small.

Works for me. Now I’m off to sew about a bazillion tiny flying geese and sew them into strips.

Frivols Quilts · Quilts

It’s Fall–Time for a Christmas Frivols (#10 is finished!)

October 16, 2018January 11, 2026 Elizabeth E.14 Comments

What does fall mean?

It’s fall, when — if you live in the Northern States — leaves turn colors and fall off the trees. Here in Southern California we know it’s fall because all the pumpkin spice food shows up in grocery stores, even though the temps are still in the 80s.

We pretend it’s fall, and serve fall-colored food, like this Carrot Cauliflower Soup, and we’ve gotten out the fall-colored placemat and napkins, and you can bet there are pumpkins on my table.

And if you answered “Christmas!!” in response to the prompt, you — unfortunately — are also correct. So to take photographs of Frivols #10 finish, done up in a Sweetwater Christmasy line of fabrics, I headed to Costco for the photo shoot. I’m calling it Christmas Corner, because all those quarter log-cabin shapes remind me of street corners.

Here are the finishing up photos for this little quilt, finishing at 32″ by 36″: arranging the quarter-log cabin square, pinning, then quilting it. I didn’t have any red fabric for the binding, but in my Christmas bin, found a piece of an earlier Sweetwater Christmas line, and yes–it works quite well.

So I’m tucking and arranging, and a woman comes by and says “They sell quilts at Costco?” Turns out she’s a quilter (takes one to find one in Costco) and she agreed to hold up the quilt for me next to the ribbons and bows. I never did find out her name, but we had a great chat about quilting groups, how beginners would be more successful choosing simple quilt designs, the advantages of working with a complete line of fabric in quilts. It was one of the best conversations I’ve ever had in that giant warehouse store.

Here are couple other photos:

Almost looks as if the snowmen are helping me. Interestingly enough, aside from the quilter, nobody else thought it was weird that I was taking photos of a quilt…or at least they didn’t say anything. Here are some photos of the quilt in my garden: