I love this block!! Have you started making them yet?
I decided to make 9 blocks and set them randomly to look like - what else? - birds darting to and fro.
I love this block!! Have you started making them yet?
I decided to make 9 blocks and set them randomly to look like - what else? - birds darting to and fro.
It's September. The temperatures are a little cooler than they've been for a long time. The flowers in the garden may be fading but quilts endure, bringing lasting comfort.
I love cute little scissors. I have a few pairs of "good" ones that are excellent but they're also kind of plain and boring. My favorite scissors are always the pretty ones that I like to use in display photos. I use them when I sew too but I really think a cute pair of scissors adds a sweet little touch to a photo. And using pretty scissors always makes me smile as I'm hand quilting.
Collecting different kinds of novelty scissors is fun. Lately, it's become one of my favorite go-to Christmas or birthday gift items. "What do you want, Mom?" Me: "Just go to Etsy and buy me some pretty scissors, please." So, yes, Etsy has a ton of cute scissors. I'm often surprised. I've seen some cute ones on eBay and Amazon too. Mostly decorative and not very expensive. Cute to look at and use.
The little heart scissors are made by Kelmscott Designs (The Love Scissors, I believe). I found them on Etsy. Other shops may carry them as well. I have a 3.75" pair and then a couple of years ago my daughter bought me that tiny pair. So that makes 2 heart scissors . . . . a good start to a little collection.
It's just plain fun to use different scissors every now and then.
These particular scissors went missing awhile ago. I couldn't remember the last time I used them. Or even saw them. Where the heck did I put them?? I checked and they made an appearance in an Instagram photo sometime in 2019 LOL. Hadn't seen them since. I simply forgot where I put them. (Imagine a quilter doing that, haha.) So, for a few weeks I was obsessed with finding them. Looked in every nook and cranny in my sewing room, in storage cabinets, under the sofa cushions, even behind the sofa (in case I got frustrated while hand quilting and threw them). I looked Everywhere in the house. Every day. Asked my husband if he happened to see a little black box with a pair of fancy scissors inside. I asked him Several times. Did he happen to throw the box away by mistake?? He gave me that look.
Then, for some strange reason, one day I thought of asking him to remove a heavy desk drawer and look behind it. Voila! The box with the cute little scissors inside had fallen and then became wedged behind the drawer. Glad that's been resolved but now I have to find another special place to store them so I don't lose them again. You know how that goes. I have to hide them so no one else uses them. You'd think a drawer would be a safe place, LOL. Also, if I remember correctly (!), I was on a scissors kick around then and bought another pair of fancy scissors and now I can't seem to find those either . . . Oh well. (No, they're not behind the drawer. I already checked.)
Anyone seen these??
What do you do with your leftover quilt blocks? If you ever have any, that is. Whenever I make a quilt I usually make a few extra blocks to play around with the setting. Sometimes, as I'm sewing the blocks together, I'm not happy with one or two blocks that just don't fit in with the others. So having a set of different colored blocks to substitute allows me to play around as I set them in the quilt. It's fun to sort through them and come up with different ways they can be used.
That little nine-patch mug quilt in the photo above was made because I was playing around with 1" squares one day to see how difficult it would be to piece something using really small squares. Turns out, not too difficult so I made a bunch. But 1" was small enough and I wouldn't want to go any smaller. I kept the little blocks and then one day turned them into a tiny quilt. I still have a few left over but haven't decided what to do with them. Yet!
Some quilters call these orphan blocks and sometimes those little extra blocks can be used in a whole different quilt. How about a sampler quilt? If they're not all the same size, sew a tiny border around the smaller blocks to make them fit in with the others. Jane Stickle did this when she created her famous quilt.
I know quite a few of you used leftover half-square triangles to make the border for your Schoolgirl Sampler quilt. Some of you who have read the book know that my sampler quilt idea was begun when I looked through my pile of extra/leftover blocks and found that many of them were the same size - 4" x 4". And Schoolgirl Sampler was born!
How many of you hand quilt some (or all) of your small quilts? For awhile it seemed to be somewhat of a dying art. But now I'm hearing that there's been a surge in popularity and quilters are being drawn to hand piecing and slow stitching. And I'm always happy to see quilters pick up a needle and thimble and try it. Hand quilting a small quilt is a great way to get started. While hand quilting a large quilt can take a really long time, quilting a small quilt can be done quickly and is just as rewarding. I hear people say they don't have the patience for it but I've found that the patience needed actually comes from the focus and attention paid while you're doing it. Enter the small quilt with simple stitches.
I've been asked about the thread and needles I use for hand quilting. I have to stress that everyone is different. And so what works for me may not be right for you. You have to try a few things to see what works best. But here's some things that might help -
* I like YLI hand quilting thread in light brown. Sometimes hard to find. Try eBay, Etsy or Red Rock Threads. Or the YLI company. Cotton thread is best. Look for one that's coated with a glaze that allows the thread to withstand the stress of being pulled stitch after stitch without shredding.