I knew I should have stopped sewing…..today

Ever have one of those days where you know after the first mistake you made stitching you should have stopped, but you thought there is no way possible you are going to screw up again?  I had one of those days yesterday.  Started stitching, went to press and as soon as I did that I KNEW I had stitched them all wrong.  So I went about using my handy, dandy seam ripper and ripped it all out and started all over again.  I can never have too many seam rippers, I always seem to use one, put it down and then it is gone again.  So I have several of these seam rippers in my sewing drawer, it is called a Seam Fix.  The Seam Fix has a precision sharp cutters and a rubber end cap; the rubber on the end of the cap allows you to erase away the left over thread that is always still stuck in the holes after you have ripped the seam apart. Its always so dang hard to get all those pieces of thread off of the fabric.

Once I got those blocks all said and done and fixed! I moved on to my next set of blocks, (remember I am making 2 of the Moda Blockhead 2 quilts). I got all the way to making the last seam and noticed I did it AGAIN! ugh! Somedays I don’t think I should be sewing.  So I took out my trusty sidekick, the Seam Ripper, and got that seam ripped and fixed.

My initial post for today was going to be about how I used our Triangle Paper to create block #6 of the Moda Blockheads.  I have troubles sometimes when I am trying to make the half square triangles the traditional way, so I thought if I used the 1 1/2″ Triangle Paper the block would come out much better than if I pieced it the traditional way.  And guess what?  It came out accurate!

So I think anytime we have half square triangles I am going to be using the Triangle Paper from us!  If you have never used Triangle Paper before you need to give it a whirl! It is the best thing since sliced bread to making half square triangle accurate and fast!  We have 1/2″, 3/4″, 1″, 1 1/4″, 1 1/2″, 2″ and 2 1/2″, pick a size any size and try it out! We also have Variety Packs and Triangle Papers made for 5″ Charms!

Isn’t it amazing how by just moving the pieces around and the colors that you get a whole different look to your block.  I did my 2 blocks differently just to change things up a bit. 

 

One last little tidbit.  I know that Block #8 is an appliqué block, I’m guessing there will be more than one of them in this quilt…..and I am not so good at doing cotton hand appliqué work.  So I am going to change it to a pieced block, to do this I grab out my trusty copy of the 501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks book.  This book has everything imaginable in it! They give you a block and then they have the cutting instructions for 6-different sizes of block, you can see an example below on how it is all laid out.  This is a great book to have in your bookshelf as a great reference point even if you are not doing the Moda Blockheads quilt!  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE though if you are not doing one of the blocks and want to replace one of them, please still go to the Designers website and see their post and wonder around their website, they have awesome advice and great things to look at!

 

Its almost the weekend! Have a spectacular day!

Jessica

Primitive Gatherings 

Only 154 days till Christmas!

The year is over half way done, and Christmas is only 154 days away! I don’t know about you but I don’t have any of my Christmas Gifts made yet! YIKES! If you are like me and struggling, we have some great ideas for you….and they are on SALE! Yeap, I said SALE.  It is our annual Christmas in July Sale, which runs until July 29th.

We have small projects; Charcoal Mittens, Winter Ride with Frosty, Snow Babies and Winter Diamonds.

We have quilts: Chalet, Merrily, Lost Mittens, Mr. Snowman, Middle Child and More.

Books too! These books will offer a sampling of several different projects for you to star. Primarily Quilts 2, Plan to Quilt, Flannel Gatherings and Christmas Gatherings are all on sale for great low prices.

 

Scoop up all these great deals and MORE!  But hurry, some of these items we only have a few left! All Sale Prices will be reflected once you put them into the Shopping Cart.

Have Beautiful week!

Jessica

Moda Blockheads Fun!

How many of you are doing the Moda Blockhead Challenge this year?  This year they are changing it up with the sizes, which I personally absolutely LOVE! Sometimes I get bored doing the same size blocks over and over again.  I know that they are all DIFFERENT, but sometime when you do different sizes too, it adds a little excitement….like each Tuesday night I think….”What size are we making THIS time, and what design and who is the designer?” and then Wednesday morning I pop onto the Facebook site to see the block and to find out which designer is doing it! I also LOVE all the variation the some of the blocks are getting and people turning it into their own block! The creativity out there is absolutely AMAZING!

As many of you know Lisa did her blocks out of several different lines that we had available to us at the warehouse.  We made kits and do have some kits left if you were looking for one yet.

I did mine out of the NEW Wool and Needle VI line that is coming out at the end of the month.  I had access to some of the yardage that Lisa had available to her for making our sample quilts and wanted to do a nice neutral and taupe colored quilt.   Ok, I’ll be honest, I am 2 sets of these blocks and one of them is out of another one of Lisa’s lines that comes out in October called Flower Gatherings, it has backgrounds and color prints!

Incase you are looking for a way to store your blocks I am using a large zippered Primitive Gatherings project bag.  We have several different sizes available but the 20″x20″ I think is going to be the easiest for me to store all the blocks in.  Even if you have to fold the a block in half; like the large one we just made in Block 5 (shh…don’t tell anyone but I am 2 weeks behind).  It is okay to fold them, it will all be in one spot for me to grab and put away my blocks.  I’ll have it all in one spot and ready to go when it comes time to putting them all together.

I have LOTs of little scraps left as I am using pieces and parts and scraps from quilts we have made and need a place to put them all.  I know with all the different sizes that I will be able to use most of them in some of the smaller blocks, so I am using these awesome totes from MODA.  They are all canvas totes and store easily on the floor or on my cutting table.  I have few at home as well that I have put certain projects in, which allows me to just pick up the tote and take it where I need to go; whether I travel with it some where or just take it to the living room to work on while I am watching tv.

Happy Sewing this weekend! Would LOVE to see what you are doing with your Moda Blockheads!

Jessica

Is Summer really half way over?

With the passing of July 4th yesterday, today marks that dreaded day of Summer being half way over?  Can you believe it?  I’m still waiting to have my first piece of fresh corn on the cob, and to get veggies out of my garden, and you are telling me Summer is half way gone!! I don’t know about you but that does NOT make me happy! I hope all of you are enjoying your Summer to the fullest! I’ll post more pictures about what I have been doing later, but I wanted to give you all one last chance who are not participating in one of our Summer Block of the Week programs it hop on board with all the fun!

We are just rolling out our Week 4 this week of our SBOWs, which means there is about 1 more week for you to join in on the fun and sign up TODAY to receive awesome little packages each week!

We have 3 fun filled Blocks of the Week going on!  We have our Wool Appliqué on Flannel-Twilight Garden, our Pieced Star Studded Affair, and our EPP My Fussy Cut Fantasy.  When you sign up for the groups, we also have amazing Facebook Groups that allow you to follow along with everyone else, receive encouragement and also to learn new skills and how to do new things!

Our wool Summer Block of the Week is done on Flannel with cream, white and taupe colored wool to give it a fresh, up to date look.  This quilt will truly be an heirloom once it is finished! Here is a small snippet of what the SBOW is all about with the Wool.  Please take a peak at our website for full details. 

This year you are going to need 8 yards of background flannel to complete the quilt.  Our quilt we figure is going to measure around 90″x 90″.  This year, it is in my opinion probably one of the most stunning SBOWs that we have done yet! You will have your choice of 3 different backgrounds; Lisa will be doing hers on the Midnight Navy flannel, we also have a Blue/Grey .

Since we have 8 yards of background flannel that is needed for this project you are going to receive all of that upfront in your first weeks shipment.  Like most of our SBOWS this will be a 12-week commitment from all of you, we will start shipping the SBOW June 5.  The 8 yards of flannel is going to be considered your “Essentials”, when signing up for this you will need to choose which color you would like for your Essentials (background fabric) to be, your background fabric will be charged at the time of the purchase and will be $114.00, which includes shipping.  Next you will need to ask yourself if you would like to pay monthly or pay in full.  If you would like to pay in full, you will be charged at the time of purchase $220.00, this is all of your wool blocks and shipping+ Essentials. If you are paying in full, you will receive a FREE week as our “Thank You” for only having to run your credit card one time!

 

Our Star Studded Event is the Pieced Summer Block of the Week.  Tackle those little stars and you will be a pro by week 3! LOL! You will have such a great time with these little blocks, completed blocks will finish at 6″!

 

Our Star Studded Event will be the star of the show once you have completed it.  We decided to go easy on you this year with the blocks that you will be making each week.  Each week you will receive 60 lights and 60 darks that will allow you to create 10-6 1/2″ square blocks, 6″ finished. While we will need to reuse some of our fabrics more than once, you have the potential of getting more than 1,200 different fabrics! Once completed Star Studded Event will measure approximately 90″x96″. There will be NO Finishing kit needed for this quilt; you will have everything you need to finish this quilt minus that Backing, as that is optional. You will be charged at the time of purchase $209.00, this is all of the blocks and shipping. By paying in full, you will receive a FREE week as our “Thank You” for only having to run your credit card one time! For more information click on the link. 

Last and certainly not least we have an English Paper Piecing Block of the Week for those of you who love to paper piece.  This is an exciting quilt where each week you will be doing something different!

Each week you will receive a different row to complete, each row will allow you to perfect your fussy cutting skills and learn the charming little shapes that you can create by fussy cutting.  You will be charged at the time of purchase $198.00, this is all of the blocks and shipping, by paying in full, you will receive a FREE week as our “Thank You” for only having to run your credit card one time! Please take a peak at our website for more information about our program.

We hope you all have a safe and happy rest of your Summer, please join us for some fun with our Summer Blocks of the Week.  But do not hesitate, before you know it they will be gone!

Jessica

Primitive Gatherings Quilt Shop