My Quilters' Community Episode



Friends,

The day has arrived. My episode by Quilters' Community by the Quilters Newsletter. The topic is constructing y-seams of a Lemoyne Star Block. I talked about the taping in this post.

Here's the deal. My segment runs for FREE for one week (today through 6/26). It's out on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMzPvDDCjOU.

Then you'll have to subscribe to Quilters' Community for it, which can be found at
http://www.quiltersnewsletter.com/videos/index.html.

I do have an 1 hour webcast on y-seams, which can be found here
http://www.interweavestore.com/1-2-3-y-seams-inset-seams

This is my first quilting video and hope to have many more. I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to do it.

Enjoy,
Sandra

Sandra Clemons

Summer Sampler Quilt Along - Block 2 Giveaway

Friends,

The Arrow Block's giveaway is the Orbit Fat Quarter Bundle by RJR's Cotton Supreme Solids for week 2 of the Summer Day & Night Quilt Sampler.

Check out this link for the free instructions to construct the Arrow Block.

The Prize

A huge thank you to RJR for allowing me to giveaway a fat quarter bundle of their Cotton Supreme Solids. The bundle consists of 10 fat quarters.

How to Enter 

To be in the draw, please leave a comment on this blog post or the Arrow Block post, or like me on my facebook page. Then, email me through my Contact Me on the right sideboard of my blog. The winner will be announced June 22nd, when the 3rd block is released.


Winner
The winner of Week 1 Cross Block is Myra. Congratulations! Thanks to all who entered.

Sandra

Sandra Clemons

Summer Sampler Quilt Along - Block 2

Hello Friends,

Welcome to the second week of the Summer Sampler Quilt Along. This week the block is called Arrows. It finishes at 16" x 16".

Refer to the Summer Day & Night Quilt Sampler in the menu above for a summary of our progress.

Featuring RJR's Cotton Supreme Solids 

Here we go. The block.





Cut Block 4

Light Gray:
§  Cut 2 squares 4 7/8” x 4 7/8”, then cut diagonally once to make 4 half square triangles. (A)
§  Cut 16 squares 2 1/2” x 2 1/2”. (B)
§  Cut 4 squares 2 7/8” x 2 7/8”, then cut diagonally once to make 8 half square triangles. (C)

Navy and Blush:

For each color:
§  Cut 1 square 6 1/2” x 6 1/2”, then cut diagonally once to make 2 half square triangles. (D)
§  Cut 1 square 2 7/8” x 2 7/8”, then cut diagonally once to make 2 half square triangles. (E)
§  Cut 1 rectangle 2 1/2” x 4 1/2”. (F)

Green and Red:

For each color:
§  Cut 1 square 6 1/2” x 6 1/2”, then cut diagonally once to make 2 half square triangles (1 extra). (D)
§  Cut 1 square 2 7/8” x 2 7/8”, then cut diagonally once to make 2 half square triangles. (E)
§  Cut 1 rectangle 2 1/2” x 4 1/2”. (F)

Assemble Block 4

1.      Stitch together 2 gray triangles (A) to each side of the navy triangle (D) to make a Flying Geese unit. Make 2.
 

2.      Repeat Step 1, but instead of the navy triangle, use the blush triangle (D). Make 2. Then, make one Flying Geese Unit for with the green and red fabric.
 

3.      Referring to the diagram, join a navy (E) and gray (C) triangles to the gray square (B). Repeat 3 more times to make the unit in green, red, and blush.

4.      Referring to the diagram, join a navy (E) and gray (C) triangles to the gray square (B). Repeat 3 more times to make the unit in green, red, and blush. Note the placement of the triangles. They are different from Step 3. 

5.      Join 2 gray squares (B) to each side of the navy (F). Repeat 3 more times to make the unit in green, red, and blush.

6.      Referring to the diagram below, join the green pieced triangles from Step 3 and 4 to each side of the navy triangle (D). Repeat 3 more times to make the unit in green, red, and blush. 

7.      Stitch together the top half of the block by using the units made in Step 5 and 6.

8.      Stitch together the top half of the block by using the units made in Step 5 and 6.

9.      Complete the block by stitch together the unit made in Step 7 and 8.



Here's mine in RJR's Cotton Supreme Solids.

I hope you enjoyed the Arrow block. I'd love to see what you've come up with. Share with me through Instagram/Facebook/Pinterest.

Click here for your chance for a free Fat Quarter Bundle by RJR Cotton Supreme Solids and the winner of Block 1.

Enjoy,

Sandra 

Sandra Clemons

Summer Sampler Quilt Along - Block 1 Giveaway

 

Friends,
I have an awesome giveaway for you to bring attention to the Cross Block of the Summer Day & Night Quilt Sampler, featured by RJR's Cotton Supreme Solids.

 

Check out this link for the free instructions to construct the Cross Block.

 

The Prize

A huge thank you to RJR for allowing me to giveaway a fat quarter bundle of their Cotton Supreme Solids. The bundle consists of 8 fat quarters.
 

 

 

 

How to Enter 

To be in the draw, please leave a comment on this blog post or the Cross Block post, or like me on my facebook page. Then, email me through my Contact Me on the right sideboard of my blog. The winner will be announced June 15, when the 2nd block is released.

 

Sandra

Sandra Clemons

Summer Sampler Quilt Along - Block 1

Hello Friends,

Here we go. The first block, called Cross of the Summer Day and Night Quilt Sampler.

 

 

Featuring RJR's Cotton Supreme Solids.

Refer to this post for the introduction of the Summer Day and Night Sampler.

Here's the Cross Block that measures 16" x 16" unfinished.

 

Cut Block

Light Gray – Cut 4 squares 4 1/2” x 4 1/2”. (A)

Aqua:

§   Cut 4 rectangles 2 1/2” x 6 1/2”. (B)

§   Cut 8 rectangles 2 1/2” x 4 1/2”. (C)

Red:

§   Cut 1 rectangle 4 1/2” x 12 1/2”. (D)

§   Cut 2 squares 4 1/2” x 4 1/2”. (E)



Assemble Block

1.      Stitch together a small (C) and large (B) aqua rectangle to the sides of the gray square (A). Begin by stitch the small aqua rectangle (C) to the bottom of the gray square (A). Then, add the large aqua rectangle (B) to the left side of the unit. Make 2.

2.      Similar to Step 1, stitch together a small (C) and large (B) aqua rectangle to the sides of the gray square (A). Begin by stitch the small aqua rectangle (C) to the bottom of the gray square (A). Then, add the large aqua rectangle (B) to the right side of the unit. Make 2.

 

3.      Stitch a small aqua rectangle (C) to the side of the red square (E). Make 2.



 

4.      Complete the block by stitching together units made in Step 1, 2, and 3, and adding the remaining 2 small aqua rectangles (C) and red rectangle (D).



 

 

 

I did mine in a different color scheme. I'm using seafoam as my background, and orange and yellow as the cross.

(Refers to the cut pieces of the block.)

(Refers to Step 1.)

(Refers to Step 2.)

(Refers to Step 4.)

 

(Tada. My finished block.)

 

I hope you enjoyed the free block. I'd love to see what you've come up with. Share with me through Instagram/Facebook/Pinterest.

 

Click here for your chance for a free Fat Quarter Bundle by RJR Cotton Supreme Solids.

 

Enjoy,

Sandra 

Sandra Clemons

Homemade Iron Boards

Hello Friends.

I had the most wonderful family weekend. My 3 year old daughter performed in her first recital. When I say performed, I mean she performed on stage in front of a huge audience. Yay! As a parent, I'm not sure if my child is participating in an activity simply to please me. Perhaps, it starts out that way, but seeing her smiles and hearing her giggles, it was confirmation that she really enjoyed it. In fact, she didn't seem nervous or shy. She was ready to go. It truly melted my heart.

With that, it was a crazy week. I did my web seminar, which was discussed in this post. I published another pattern, which can be purchased on my Etsy Shop.

Meanwhile, I started Instagram and Facebook. I've been posting my progress on quilt projects for the last week and plan to keep it going. Check-um out. If you like what you see, then please support me by clicking 'like'.



On Saturday, I managed to start another project. For the Denver Quilt Guild, I organize our annual quilting retreat. Yay. Aren’t retreats so much fun! Well, in the effort to make the retreat as comfortable as possible, I decided to make 4 iron boards instead of asking and organizing volunteers to bring iron boards. This leaves extra room for our quilters to store more supplies in their cars.

 

To begin, I headed to Home Depot. There I found a sheet of plywood on sale for $7.50 a sheet. Not bad. The sheet was 5/16th thick. I didn’t want it too thin, say a 1/4” because I didn’t want the plywood to easily warp, nor did I want a too thick plywood, say 3/4” thick, because I need to be able to carry and haul it around. The 5/16th seemed just right.

I plan to make 4 cutting stations for the retreat. 4 sheets of plywood were loaded by my kind husband and hauled to the back of the store where they cut the wood.

A nice service Home Depot provides is free cutting. I had them cut my sheets of plywood to my desired size. In this case, I’m planning on placing these sheets on a banquet table that measure 28” wide and 6’ long. I asked Home Depot to cut my sheets to 32” x 76”.

Why the extra 4”? Well, I plan to have a little bit of overhang to screw in 1" wide boards underneath each side of the plywood sheets to prevent the sheets from moving. However, I changed my mind on during construction. I have to haul and store these things. In the effort for space consolidation, I'd like for them to stack on top of each other nicely. I don't expect them to slide too much on top of the tables, but if need be, then I'm ready to screw in a few 1" wide boards. Instead, I stapled Grip-It Shelf Liner to the back side.

Once the pieces were cut, they were hauled home.

Meanwhile, I took a trip to IKEA. If you didn’t know, they have FABRIC. Fabric off the bolt and most are 59” wide. Yay! I picked around at the different patterns and opted for plain & simple. I bought 9 yards of the gray linen for 4 boards. I picked plain & simple, and instead of fun & pretty, because when I’m ironing my piecing, I don’t want to be distracted by the pretty print of the board. My focus should be on my pretty pieces for my quilt to notice any imperfections. Yes, they do happen and boy, it would be a sad day if you see them when the quilt top is completed. And yes, it has happened to me. I had to rip an entire quilt top down to the blocks. Ugh. I don’t wish that on anybody.

 

Back to the boards. A trip to Jo-Ann's with my 50% off coupons to buy 4 Warm & Natural queen size battings. All my shopping was done.

Here's a list of all my ingredients to put these iron boards together.

- 5/16th sheet of Plywood cut to desired size

- Fabric yardage to fit the plywood with an extra 4" on each side.

- Cotton Batting to fit the plywood with an extra 4" on each side. You'll need 2 layers.

- A staple gun and extra staples.
- Grip-it Shelf Liner

- Hammer

- Duck Tape (Make sure it is real duck tape. The fake kind doesn't stick very well.)

 

 

 

To begin, find an open and clean area. Lay out your fabric right-side faced down.

I kept my queen size bat folded in half and then laid it on top of the fabric.

Next, I laid the plywood on top. Did you know there is a smooth and rough side to plywood? There is. I kept the smooth side faced up. This is the side that will be exposed and handled. Gently, guide your hand over the surface of both sides. You should notice that one side is rough and the other is smooth. You are free to sand the board and even paint over it, but really it isn't necessary. This is the side that won't be seen.

 

 

Then, I stapled the batting and fabric to the back side of the plywood. So simple.

 

 

Lastly, I added some duck tape around the raw edges to give the back side a cleaner look. Tada. 3 more to go.

Finishing up 3 more,
Sandra

Join me - Inset Seams Webinar

1-2-3 Y-Seams: Inset Seams

Hello Friends,

I'm thrilled to announce my first webinar, called 1-2-3 Y-Seams: Inset Seams. The live webinar is scheduled for 11am MST, Wednesday, May 27, 2015. That's next week! However, if you're unable to attend live, it'll be recorded for your viewing pleasure at your convenience.

You can also find the webinar at:
http://www.shopfonsandporter.com/product/1-2-3-y-seams-inset-seams/
http://www.interweavestore.com/1-2-3-y-seams-inset-seams

I've been working hard on putting together a thorough and clear presentation by using concise wording and loading it up with tons of photos and diagrams. Many of the photos are taken at my BERNINA machine, as if you are right over my shoulder watching me stitch. I designed and made 3 quilt patterns where you can use the techniques learned in this webinar to make a beautiful quilt. Currently, I'm finishing up the third one, which you can view my progress on my facebook page. The first two were discussed in my last post.

What's in it for you, right? Why learn from me? Inset seams has a bad reputation. People mess up, it's slow, they don't want to cut out irregular shapes, and so forth. But wait a minute, what if you thought of inset seams as easy, forgiving, and faster. That's right. It's my view the construction of inset seams, such as the Lemoyne Star Block is faster and easier than say the Sawtooth Star Block. I'll teach you how to rotary cut out the irregular shapes, stitch a y-seam with no redundant steps, and determine pressing options that fits best for the overall construction of the quilt top.

Come and join me,
Sandra