Give a Cheer for BLEACHERS and a GIVEAWAY!

Hey everyone!   Hope you're not all suffering from Margarita hang-overs after my last post.  I guess I forgot to add the "enjoy in moderation" disclaimer! ;-)

So...let's get down to business, shall we?  Today I am thrilled to be hosting a giveaway.  The prize being a copy BLEACHERS - one of the latest quilt patterns published by Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio.

This exciting new pattern is the result of a collaboration between two of my KCMQG friends.  The Bleachers quilt is designed by Angela Walters (of Quilting is My Therapy fame) and Shea Henderson (the woman behind Empty Bobbin) worked with Angela to translate Angela's design into the finished pattern booklet. If you've never seen an Empty Bobbin pattern, you'll be impressed by the quality of the printing and illustrations. Shea really puts out an excellent product...and she includes instructions for an optional pieced backing too!

All photographs of Bleachers were taken by Sarah Sorrell.

The quilt on the pattern cover was made using a mix of blacks, charcoals and grays from the Curious Nature line by Parson Gray.  It is so unique, don't you think?  I love it!

Full, lap and baby quilt sizes all have the same number of blocks!
Quilting by Angela Walters

One of the goals that Angela and Shea had with this pattern was that it would be scaled to size...that is, instead of increasing the number of blocks to create a bigger quilt, Shea did all the math to increase the size of the blocks instead.  Genius!

I love this picture with all three quilt sizes. Melissa's quilt in blues and grays has been dubbed The "Royals" quilt, in honor of Kansas City's baseball team.  Carla's quilt in the middle reminds me of my daughters' High School because their colors were Red and Gold.  It's easy to see how you could whip up a quilt for your favorite guy or gal using their favorite pro or collegiate team colors. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Last but not least, here's a picture of the quilt that I made while testing the pattern for Shea. This is the baby sized version made with Kona Pomegranate, Corn Yellow, Orange, White and Sour Apple.  It makes me think of fruit punch!

I still haven't seen the finished quilt and I cannot wait - Angela's quilting is amazing!  I'm not positive, but I believe that all of the quilts pictured in this post will be displayed in various booths at the upcoming Spring Quilt Market here in Kansas City. How exciting!

If you'd like to win a copy of the BLEACHERS pattern for your very own, just leave a comment below and you'll be in the running. The contest will run through Mother's Day so make sure to leave your comment before 11:59 P.M. (central time) May 13th!

AND...if you'd like to treat yourself for Mother's Day, go and visit my friend Tammy at Marmalade Fabrics!  She's made up some fabulous kits of my bright fruit-punch colored quilt available in Full and Lap sizes.

Mary Anne's Margaritas - A Tutorial

Last month, I spent three days Quilting on the Kaw - a fabulous retreat with my KC MQG friends!

Everyone contributed something special.  Carla taught a class on QR Code quilts.  Denise taught a class on fabric-wrapped clothesline bags and baskets.  Kristen had a spontaneous class on Zentangling.  Me?  I made margaritas!

I promised to post a tutorial so...at long last...here it is:

You'll need:

Tequila
Triple Sec (orange liqueur)
Minute Maid frozen limeade (6 oz)
Limes
Salt (optional)
Ice
Blender
Measuring Cup

Start by filling your blender with ice - about 1/2 to 2/3 full, depending upon how thick you like your margs.

Add 6 oz of limeade to the blender.  For some reason, in KC, I can only find limeade in 12 oz cans.  So...scoop out half and toss it in the blender.

Measure out approximately 2 oz of Triple Sec

add to that about  4 oz of Tequila

Pour it in your blender and blend until smooth.

For a salted rim, take a lim wedge and rub it around the rim of your glass and then press the rim into salt.

Pour into your prepared glass, squeeze in a lime wedge and enjoy!

My March Finish...in April!

Hi All!

Wow...where has the time gone since my last post?  Has it REALLY been 2 months since my last post?  Yikes!

Seriously, I do know where the time has gone.  There has been so much going on in my life that it's made me dizzy! I'll have to fill you all in soon.

For now, I'd like to share a quilt that I finished on March 30th...just an hour or so before I left for a fabulous retreat with the KC MQG in Lawrence, KS.

This quilt is made from Parisville fat quarters.  One day, during lunch, I was trolling Flickr pages and discovered it posted on Faith's blog.  I instantly loved it and had to make one, so I clicked on over to Hawthorne Threads and ordered 2 FQ packs.

This quilt went together so quickly and I love the end result!

With the exception of the Kona Cerise binding, this is a true replicate of Faith's quilt...

I even copied the back! :-D

I made this quilt for my daughter, Megan and she just loves it.  Naturally, I have to make another one for my other daughter, Katy.  I'm thinking Prince Charming might be fun...we'll see!

Y'all take care!

A February Finish - Yippee!

Hi All!

I finished this quilt last weekend, but didn't get a chance to post it before I left town for the week...

I ended up quilting it with an all-over extremely elongated loop design.  I had visions of attempting custom quilting in each block, but for a couple of reasons, I decided against it.

The back is a pieced back...and I did not realize at the time that making a pieced back that is centered both vertically and horizontally could present an alignment challenge.  Fortunately, everything came out OK  In fact, I'm liking the back of the quilt more than the front!

Thanks to Cindy for posting the Garden Fence block tutorial - you can find it here.  And thanks to my friend Caitlin for hosting her Garden Fence Quilt-A-Long!

Next on the agenda?  I'm thinking of taking a few vacation days to catch up around the house and SEW!  I need to make a mug rug before the March 8th KC MQG meeting...so I'd better get cracking!

Have a great week!

A Quilt-tastic Week!

I have to say, that I had a very quilt-centric fantastic week last week. I'd love to share the highlights with you!

1.  FINISHED - a test quilt top and backing for a new Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio pattern...but you'll have to wait to see how it turned out!  I personally think it will be WELL worth waiting for!

2.  FINISHED - prepping my block kits for the KC Scrappy Bee. February was my month to be Queen.  I was SOOOO relieved to be done because I totally agonized over which block I would choose.  I finally settled on a paper-pieced string block because it's fun and easy and eats up the scraps. I've always wanted a string quilt!  Film in the Fridge has an excellent tutorial here.  I made 3 blocks over the weekend and am saving the 4th for KC MQG Sewing Sunday so I can teach my friend Kristen.  Caitlin and Paula have already finished 4!

3.  Thursday night was February's KC MQG meeting.  In addition to the usual fun, we held our officer elections and I am the new treasurer!  The big news; however, was that Weeks Ringle will be coming to speak to our guild in May - after Quilt Market.  I am SOO excited as Weeks and her husband Bill introduced me to Modern Quilting. What a thrill!

4.  Friday, I met Ronit who blogs at Two Hippos - we were partners in Round 1 of the For The Love of Solids swap on Flickr.  I made Ronit some placemats using Kona Glacier and some blue and green Moda Crossweaves.  We had a great time visiting at Sarah's Fabrics in Lawrence. Ronit was easy to spot...her jacket was Kona Glacier-colored! ;-)  If all goes well, she'll be back in the KC area in late April - so I have invited her to our April guild meeting.

5.  Are you tired yet???  Hang on, I have a few more share-worthy things to go on about!  On Saturday I loaded my Garden Fence quilt onto my frame.  It will be a late graduation present for my niece if I ever decide just how to quilt it.  Maybe I'll send a picture to Angela and she can use it as a "Deciding What to Quilt" example.  She's got a great series going on her blog!

6.  Last, but not least, I finished a pile of blocks about a week ago.  I'm making a new quilt for my daughter.  This is a complete, unabashed, faithful copy of Fresh Lemon's Parisville Quilt.  When she posted this quilt to her blog, it was love at first sight, so I had to make one for myself!  Right now it is incubating on my design wall while I decide if further block arranging is needed.

Well, I think I've gone on enough for one post.  Perhaps I was making up for January - the month of zero blog posts?  I'm headed up to tidy my sewing room and try to decide what to focus on next.

Whoop! A FINISH!

So...I FINALLY have a finished quilt to share!  Yippee!!!  Between a whole lotta' hours spent earning my pay, Holidays and a landmark (as in 5-0) birthday party for my hubs, there has not been a whole lot of sewing going on around here.  Fortunately...I'm doing my best to make up for lost time!

This particular quilt had it's start in October of 2011.  The family decided to road trip from Overland Park, KS to College Station, TX for the TAMU vs MIZZOU football game.

Kyle Field - Texas A&M University
The Williams Family and 83,000 of our closest friends!

After the game (heartbreaking loss in double OT), we stopped at Lone Star Quiltworks on our way out of town.  I had decided the Bill needed an Aggie Quilt...and I needed a reason to stop at a new shop!

In addition to the focus fabric, I decided to go with some solids (Kona Ash, Moda Gray Crossweave and Moda Burgundy) and a single print. I chose the teeny-tiny black and white check from Moda's 30's Playthings by Chloe's Closet.  The pattern was a Take Five Pattern from Teacher's Pet and it went together in a jiffy!  I decided to back the quilt in the gray crossweave (yes...I bought 5 yards from Pink Castle Fabrics...before I knew that Moda had discontinued their crossweaves!)

I was making good time...got the quilt loaded on the frame...trying to decide how to quilt it, when a friend made a comment about pre-washing cross-weaves because they shrink A LOT!.  YIKES!  So...off came the quilt from the frame.  I stay stitched the raw edges of the backing and ran it through the washer.  And the quilt sat and waited it's turn to get back on board.

Here's a shot of the finished quilt.  The center of the quilt is a big meander stitch.  The outer border is channel quilted at even intervals.  Rather then turn the corner, I stitched from edge to edge so that the corners were quilted with a grid pattern.

Unfortunately, you can't see the quilting too clearly in these pictures.  But don't you just love the texture of the crossweave?  I had intended to bind the quilt in the Aggie fabric, but a cutting mishap on my part forced me to change my plan.  I used a favorite basic - a gray pinstripe - to finish this manly-man quilt.

One last thing about this quilt - and I wish I had pictures to demonstrate...but I don't.  When I put this quilt in the washer, I threw a couple of Shout color-catchers in the tub.  Then I remembered I had some Retayne in my cabinet so I added 6 teaspoons and washed it on HOT as the directions state.  Needless to say, with all that maroon and in hot water, I was nervous!  Well...I am happy to report that the Retayne did it's job - the color catchers were still white!!!  I'm happy to know that I can keep my quilts from fading in the wash with the occasional use of Retayne.

CURVES class postings went up on Friday and I am so excited!  I've already decided to make the scalloped clam pillow to go with my daughter's new quilt.  I'll be sure to share as projects are done.

My Quilting Journey

Hi Everyone!

It's been over a month since my last post, life has sure kept me hopping lately! Happily, things are getting back to normal and I'm spending more quality time with my sewing machine!

Inspired by my KC MQG friend Kristin, I signed up for Rachel's (Stitched In Color) online Curves class. Our first assignment is to get to know our classmates. This blog post is all about me... so...here goes!

I learned to sew in 8th grade Home Ec class.  There were no quilters in my family - nor were there any quilts. :-(  Early in my married life, I put my straight line sewing skills to good use making window treatments, dust ruffles, duvet covers, bumper pads, etc. I expanded into leggings and Halloween Costumes after my girls were born.  When my girls were in high school, I was in charge of sewing flags for the Color Guard.  Yep...in 2006, my flags (and my girls) marched in the Rose Parade!  It was during that time that I was introduced to quilting through some friends...after my first quilt I thought "yeah...it's OK but I don't get why people are so over the top about it!".  Then I made another one...and another...and...well, you know where this ends up!

No blog post is complete without some pics...and since I avoid posting pictures of myself, I'll share some of my quilts:

My #1 All Time Favorite - "Spice Market" pattern by FunQuilts

"Hushabye Baby Kayla" - of my own design

RK Challenge Quilt - Front

...and back

Quilting has become a big part of my life. I am active in the Kansas City MQG (talk about an amazing group of talented and inspirational people!) and I enjoy reading quilting blogs and participating in Flickr groups and swaps. Guild sewing days are the best! I am so excited to be in this class - I'm not intimidated by sewing curves, but if I can learn some tips and tricks to minimize frustration, I'm all for it.  Especially since we'll all have a good time doing it!

You can find me on Flickr at MAQuilts1 - I can't wait to see what we all make with our new curvy  skills!

Mary Anne