Saturday, March 30, 2013

Aaliyah's first sewing lesson


Here is Aaliyah and her pillow!! She did an awesome job on it :^)

I love to share the gift of sewing and quilting with others. I have done a little bit of teaching here at my home and I also taught a WaterColor quilt class many years ago at our then quilt shop-Strawberry Patches-now closed.

So when our medical student, Aaliyah, mentioned that she would like to learn to sew, I invited her over to do a first sewing lesson with me!!!

Our office hosts medical students from OHSU. They usually spend about 5 to 6 weeks with us during their Rural rotation in med school. I don't really consider us rural, but Portland does!!!

I made up lessons for beginning sewing several years ago. First, they sew on paper, no thread, in a steadily decreasing square pattern where they get the feel of the machine and learn to pivot. Next is the paper with the spiral, going round and round and round, which can be a little difficult staying on the line, but a good lesson.

Then we make a pillow cover. I have such a huge stash that I let my students pick whatever they want from it. I made an instruction pamphlet for the pillow cover, one for a 14" pillow and one for a 16" pillow.

Here's the fabrics that Aaliyah chose-they looked lovely together.
 So in one afternoon, she learned to use my Husqvarna Viking 60 20 sewing machine and went home with a finished project. 

I wish we would have had more time as I would love to have taught her how to make an outfit, or top, or skirt, or some type of clothing. That is what she would like to learn. I know there are many places in Portland to learn to sew, but, of course, being a 3rd year med student, there isn't a lot of spare time!!!

Aaliyah was tons of fun, we all enjoyed working with her at the office! She's going to make a fabulous Dr!!

Take care Aaliyah, I hope to hear from you in the future and keep on sewing!!! 


Her sister has already put in a few orders for pillow!!! :^)

Have a wonderful Easter everyone, Happy Quilting, and keep those needles sharp!! Martha

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Harley Davidson Skull Quilt-And the new owner is:


Cindy and her new quilt!!! :^)

And the winner is: Cindy and Mike of the Road Maggots!!!
They decided to run an auction for the quilt instead of raffle tickets. The winning bid was $550.00!!!! WOW!! And they both really seem to love the quilt! I am so glad and relieved that it is going to a home where it will be cherished!!!

So I came up with the idea for this quilt back in July when we were given the lessons of free motion quilting using a tile concept from Angela Walters. I had sketched out the skull and cobwebs on a 3 1/2" X 3 1/2" sticky note and put it away for later use. And then this event came up and I thought, "Perfect!!"

My first skull was good, but my husband said it wasn't mean or scary enough. So I redid his eyes to be a little more stern looking.

The Harley Davidson skull cap was also an after thought. I had planned on putting the Harley emblem somewhere on the quilt and cobweb it in. Then last Monday, I thought I would just put it on his forehead, kind of as a joke, and it occurred to me that he needed a skull cap. I quickly cut out a piece of black fabric in the shape of the top of his head and put the emblem on top of that and it was, well,  just meant to be!!!

I knew I wanted to quilt the flames in the outer boarder,  but when I did that, the lighter border seemed to really clash with it. So I added the 1/4" black bias to separate the two, and it worked. Thank goodness. I was getting pretty upset by then!!! That was yesterday!!! I was up until 2 am working on the quilt, then got up at 6:30 this morning and worked another 2 hours on it. I think I have about 30-40 hours of work on this little quilt that measures 32.5" X 32.5".

So here is a little photo trip through the creating, sewing, quilting of "Run For A Brother".
Choices, choices, choices!!! Which skull to go with?? Hmmmmmm???
Now I have to decide which mouth?
Layered and ready to pin.
All pinned and ready to quilt.
Working on his teeth.
Nasal Surgery!!! Quilting in his nose actually!!
Starting the cobweb tiles.
Checking out the placement for the bike!!
It looks so much better with the skull cap on!!
More quilting done
Stitching the bike. I used a tear-away stabilizer which I will NEVER do again!! It was very hard to tear it all away. Next time I will use Sulky Sticky Fabri-Solvy!!!!

More quilting done and still much more to do!
Close up of the finished bike.
There are 4 spiders hidden around the quilt.
Free motion quilting the flames.

Done with the flames! WHEW!!!!
Finished!!!
The label on the back :^)
There were a lot of bikes and a lot of wonderful people at the Poker Run. All there to help out a friend.brother!!! Some Harley dudes look pretty tough, but they have hearts of gold. Today, they showed their true colors!!!! Here's some photos of the gathering.

Sweet!!! Love all the bikes!!!








Notice the quilt in the background? The auction is about to commmence!!
My son Drew, his wife Jessica and her mom Jackie!!!
It was a good day! I heard they raised about $6000.00. A very good day indeed!!!

Take care everyone, Happy Quilting and keep those needles sharp. Later. Martha

Harley Davidson Skull Quilt-"Run For A Brother"

It is finished and will be raffled today!!! I will post more pictures on this post later today as I want to get some good photos of the bikes and the winner of the quilt!!!

I think I overdid the flames on the outer border a bit!!! Oh well, not much to do about it now!!! Later!! Martha

Monday, March 18, 2013

Harley Davidson/Skull quilt-a sneak peek!!

I thought I would give you a sneak peek at the quilt I am working on currently. I'm still drafting/drawing the motorcycle which will be thread painted onto the quilt, about where I have it in the photo. Still have lots of spider webs to make. They are really fun to do!! The little ones are much easier than the larger version.

This quilt will be raffled on Sunday for a friend who has a medical issue going on and needs a helping hand from his friends :^) Hopefully we get lots of money raised from this quilt. There will be lots of other items in the raffle, this is just one of them!!!

Take care everyone, Happy Quilting, and keep those seam rippers sharp!!! I know, from recent experience, that mine are!! Martha

Saturday, March 16, 2013

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL QUILT DAY!!!


I hope each and everyone of you have a splendid quilting day.

I will be working on my skull quilt for the raffle next weekend. I have TONS to do on it, and what better activity to do on such a splendid day?? I may be giving some sewing lessons today too, just waiting for a phone call to see if our medical student who has been working with us in the office is ready for her first day of sewing. FUN!!!

So, go hug a quilter or a quilt and enjoy this wonderful heritage we share :^)

Bye all, take care, Happy Quilting and keep those rotary blades sharp!! Martha

Thursday, March 14, 2013

My Dear Jane-Block J-13-Pam's Bells

This one is so cute and it was so easy to put together. It's a lot of fun when there is piecing and applique together in one block :^)

I am really enjoying working with these 1930's prints!! About six years ago, I started compiling them with no idea of what I was going to put them into.  My stash now is of a pretty good size!

I graphed out the quilt on paper and then decided on an around the world color set up, so each block color has been decided on which makes fabric choice very easy.

Most of the fabrics I have are fat quarters, but some are just fat eighths. Even so, there is plenty for these tiny blocks. Next time I post a photo of a finished block, I will scan my graph out so you can see my method!!

Have a fabulous day everyone!!! Take care, Happy Quilting, and keep those scissors sharp! Martha

Friday, March 8, 2013

My Dear Jane-Block K-9-Scouts Honor and a sneak peek of another Harley Davidson quilt!!

This was a really easy one, but trying to sew with a scant 1/4 inch is a bit tricky!!! The block measures just a bit under 5" unfinished, so close but not on the mark. I'll have to be careful when piecing all the blocks together.

I love this fabric, those ducks are so darn cute. Notice the center block ended up with the two of them together centered!!! Not planned, just turned out that way. :^)
Isn't this just the sweetest fabric??
Working on cutting the measuring and cutting all those little pieces.
Cut and ready to sew!!
This block was pretty easy to do. I am thinking that I may cut out a triangle block from each 30's fabric I use. That way, when I finish piecing all the square blocks, all the whole triangles will be cut and ready to go! I can then place them with the finished 4 1/2" block so that in the future, when I actually finish this project, I will be better organized to put the whole quilt together.

So, on to the next project. I am making a skull quilt for an auction in two weeks. Yes!! Two weeks!! It is for one of the fellas in my husbands motorcycle group who is having some health issues. The quilt (wall-hanging) will be auctioned off. So, here it is, well, this is where I am so far. These are my prototypes. I have much work left to do. Hopefully this weekend I will have the skull appliqued to the center of the black square. Then I am planning on doing some thread painting and then I will do a lot of machine quilting.

Not my normal work, but interesting!!!. Not sure where I am going with it, time will tell for sure!! I am actually considering making two at the same time. One will have a different inner border and I will let my husband choose which he wants to keep for himself and which will be auctioned. He wants me to put evil red eyes in, but I haven't decided if I am going to do that or not. Pretty creepy!!!.

So, Happy Quilting, have a lovely weekend, take care, and keep those scissors sharp!!! (speaking of scissors-my Maddie-our white lab-got a hair cut from our 3 yr old grandson today)

Bye All-Martha

Monday, March 4, 2013

My Dear Jane-Blocks A-3 and G-3 (#3 and #4)

My Dear Jane,

Well, in the beginning of this journey, not too long ago, I had decided to make My Dear Jane blocks in order. That lasted just three blocks. I am now out of order :^) and I am OK with that!!

So we took a trip to the coast and spent two nights in our little RV. (little house on wheels)
It was beautiful at the Oregon Coast!!! I love it there!! It was cold though, but we stayed nice and cozy in our RV!!
We had a simply lovely time!! Found some agates on the beach and enjoyed watching the waves come in!!!

So back to the sewing saga.

 I brought my sewing along to relax, and half way there I realized I had left my applique box that contains a beautiful array of threads, and the only thread I had with me was white!!! Hmmmmm. Soooooooooo..... hand applique in white. Out of the five blocks to do while resting, only two had enough white to work on . And I was OK with that :^). No reason to fret, because I could not change a thing and I did bring along a good book to read!!!! So all is well!!!

So this is how I did G-3 Four Leaf Clover. A-3-Hunters Moon was done similarly.
First I traced it onto freezer paper

this is the fabric I chose for it-love this!!!
this is the pattern from the software.
pressed the freezer paper onto the right side of the fabric
cut the patterns out leaving a little margin to turn
I finger pressed the edges, removed the freezer paper, and hand basted the edges down. Yes. I know this is time consuming and needle turn would work better and would be quicker. I am miserable at needle turn. This method works for me and it doesn't stress me out like needle turn does. I just go with what works. A little more labor intensive, but I'm OK with that!!
Pinned and ready! 
I really do enjoy hand applique!! This is relaxing!!
And done!!
Ta-Da!!
Only 165 more blocks to go, not including the triangle blocks :^)



 Take care everyone, Happy Quilting and keep those needles sharp!!! Martha