Tuesday Tidbits #2

thread catcher

Today's tidbit is found in your scrap bag of batting.

I will use a small scrap of batting near my machine to hold lose threads that I have clipped off. It also works well to grab dust bunnies (polar fleece works great as well)

This little thread catcher is also nice to have around when doing hand work to grab those stray threads. I have seen one done up like a little book ( might have been on stash manicure or in a Fons and Porter mag), here I have used a charm square -5 inches and a 4 inch piece of batting.

I also will use another to catch the dust bunnies that live in my machine. They grab them with just a light rub or swipe to the inside of your bobbin holder .

And speaking of dust bunnies Another great tool to grab them by their fuzzy little ears  comes from the cosmetics department



invasion of dust bunny's
sorry for the fuzzy pic

the eyeshadow brush can catch the ones hiding inside

the capture with the blush brush

and then you are left wth this 

just a handful of dust bunnies.

Special note .... no bunnies were harmed in the making of this blog

Sew dust bunnies beware, a sewing machine is not a safe place to hide.

Well that's my tidbit for today I am going to go and have some breakfast out on the patio this morning , mom's still sleeping sew she will miss this early fall morning but she will enjoy the day when she rises

sew stay in stitches and have a  dust bunny free day( and machine)

hugs

Annette

Welcome Fall

It's hard to believe but looking at the calendar it is official, Fall has arrived. I have always thought it was the 21 of September but now I here it could be just today...... I think I will go with what I know instead of what I heard.
We are still having some nice temps through the day and cool fall temps for the nights and early mornings. The other morning it was thick with fog here, sew I guess that means that we should have a good snow fall just before Christmas.There is an old saying that 90 days after fog you will have moisture.
I do enjoy each season as they come and  we have had a couple of nice ones sew far this year. Some areas in the province can not say the same as they had an awful wet spring and the farmers  could not get into the fields, and that means that there is no harvest for them. : (

I went for a drive yesterday to pick up my mom from my sister's  place in Regina. Today my brother and his wife ( a good friend and my former neighbour ) will be here and spending a couple days. I will be good to have a house full and get some visits in but that means I will not get any quilting done until next week . Oh well I think I can do it I know it will be hard  maybe I will take some hand work up stairs just to keep the jitters away. lol
Next week  I hope to take mom to the town she lived in before moving in with my sister sew that she can visit a few of her friends, and maybe I can check in with one of my old buddies.
Sew I will try to stay in stitches and I hope you  will to
Hugs Annette

look what i found

And I was not even looking


Betty Crocker has gone gluten free and is here in our local grocery store.
Last year it was featured in a few magazines as a base for baking Christmas cookies.( one was Canadian Living  2009 I guess it was longer than just last year)
Sew of course I had to try it out when I got it home, and hubby needed some baking for his lunch box.

We had some for dessert last night and it was okay. Hubby thinks a little dry and was glad to see thick and dark chocolate icing on it. The texture is really nice , it's been a long time since I had cake sew, I can not say if it is dryer than a regular cake made with wheat flour.
I do think I will buy it again, I did buy two which was half of what they had on the shelves yesterday they where $ 6.29. Gluten free seams to be a little more pricey that regular but I think it is worth it.I hope they get a few other items from Betty in to.

Well now on the sewing front
The bridesmaid dress is done, it was a rush as the bridesmaid only got home Monday  from Toronto (where she lives)and the dress arrived at my home  Tuesday morning for the first fitting and the wedding is Saturday. We had a second fitting last night and then I finished the alterations and closed up all open seams.  The dress looks great when it fits the way it was intended to. Sew glad I was prepared for it as the mom talked to me back in August.

I have about half of the shadow box quilt boxes quilted with feathers.I is going well and I am enjoying the process and fell very comfortable quilting feathers. They are becoming one of my favorite mfits to quilt.
That's all for now time to think about getting ready for work and quilting a few more feathers.
until next time stay in stitches.
hugs
Annette

Tuesday Tidbits

A couple of my small ideas

Here are a couple of little things that I keep near my sewing area.
This first one is one of hubby's favorites as it keeps the shape pins corralled
It's just a old pill bottle with a small hole punched in the lid. It hold all old and broken shapes .... needles and pins

I used a sewing awl to punch the tiny hole in the center of the lid, just
big enough of the needles to pass through

Sew that you do not find them when gathering the garbage.Or on the floor with ones feet.

The second is a paper clip cup it's magnetic and has a large opening. It's great for those stray pins at the ironing board or when you are stitching in another room. Note  I do not keep any magnetic items near my sewing machine as they tend to scramble their brains.

Well those are my tidbits for today.
Stay in stitches
Hugs Annette

a note to Squirt ... I will have a look for some ideas on a memorial quilt or see what I can draft up for you, You could also check out Moda bakeshop as they have a great number of patterns and great directions.

off to a good start

well this week is definitely off to a good start

Shadow Box ,a king size quilt, is basted and ready for me to quilt
it took 2 hours to get that done, after I had gotten the backing and batting ready and waiting last night( I have started the feathers)

the outdoor kitchen / bar

the BBQ cover set is now complete that took about 6+ hours to do with a few fittings , but now that it is done I feel good about how it turned out. ( done deal )

I did get another apron done Friday night to use a part of a 60 Th birthday gift with some chokecherry jelly and grape jam. The birthday boy was not sure if he will use it as an  apron or a bib when eating ribs etc.

Sew now this afternoon I will get started on the quilting on the shadow box quilt with a stop over at a friends home whom is having a little trouble with her machine...... I hope I can help. (She is back working on her quilt. We had a nice visit and a cup of tea after we figured it out.)

Just might have that quilt done in time , I will have three weeks to work on it and I will have company for at least one of those weeks. I am picking up my mom for a week stay this Thursday.

I do also have a couple ideas that I would like to sew up for a couple birthday gifts that will be here with in the next week or two.

fresh peaches ...yummy

I did a little experiment yesterday. I made a peach cobbler using rice/coconut and a gluten free flour  blend . I found I needed a little more milk in the dough and could have made a little more sauce in the peaches. but all in all I thought it was pretty good.

peach cobbler  mmm....mmm... good



Sew that's it for the moment

stay in stitches

hugs Annette

My first tutorial .... Wrap around binding

IT'S A WRAP

This is a binding using the fabric from the back side of your quilt, sometimes called self binding. This is the first time I have tried to do this type of binding and I just worked it out as I went along. Hope it might work for you as well.

Wrap around binding                                                                                                 

This is my first try at writing a tutorial. Sew, here I go.

When I finished the quilting on this baby / toddler quilt I thought I would try to do a wraparound binding since I had enough extra fabric on all sides.  And as I looked at it and pondered, I wanted to do a mitered corner as well.  Sew I put on my thinking cap and this is what I came up with.

1.       The first step is to trim your backing to 1 ¾” (4cm) from the finished edge of your quilt. And trim the quilt batting to the quilt edge.  Be careful not to cut the backing.

2.       Next you will press the binding in half towards the quilt top, sew that the raw edges all meet.

3.       Now at the corners, they will overlap with a fair bit of bulk. Not to worry about this at the moment it will be taken care of shortly.

4.        With both sides pressed in now take the corner tip and bring it in towards the center of the quilt. Press this triangle; the pressed line will mark the seam line.

5.        First option. Open the triangle and then cut ¼ “from the fold.

 

6.       Now place the right sides of the binding together and sew on the pressed line (double thickness).  Backstitching at the start of the seam. Turn and make sure that it lies where it should be (you may need to take a little deeper seam to have a nice and neat corner). Trim at the inside corner sew that you have a nice flat point.

first option

second option
 pressed lines showing after it is opened up
 this will be your seam line

stitching line  following the pressing lines
right sides together

trimed and centere clipped ... ready to turn

    5b.    Second option. After pressing the corner open it up all the way with right sides together line up the pressed marks, and sew the V type seam. (Single thickness) . This gives a nice neat seam at the miter. Trim away excess fabric and turn and press. I also took a little v out of the center of the V seam to reduce bulk.

pinned and ready to stitch

7.        Pin binding in place to keep it even all around your quilt. Now you are ready to stitch your binding in place using either a straight stitch or any of the decorative stitches your machine has to offer.  

I was quite pleased with how this turned out and would do it again for baby quilts , place mats and pot holders , smaller projects.

All done  : )

sew there you have it
hats off to the gals that make the tut's for us to enjoy and learn from
takes a bit of time getting it all together
and I am sew learning about this as well.

Sew until next time
stay in stitches
hugs
Annette

cool and cloudy

Well I think we are into fall now we had a very good run on summer this year I do hope that we have a few more great days ahead yet.
I have been doing a little sewing for others once again some alterations and a little quilt sew far, next I will start on a Man's outdoor kitchen covers . this is a extra large BBQ built into a granite bar with a side stove and a large bank of stainless steel drawers, Not sure why folks think that it is just a quick and easy job. Sew it will be interesting to work on and I hope the fittings go well. I hope to have it done with in the week, now that I have picked up the supplies that I think I will need to sew it up.

I have my daughter's quilt top all put together next to piece the backing and find a spot to put it all together. It measures 100" x 106" . I have told her that I hope to have it ready by our thanksgiving ( Oct. 10 here in Canada ). Which she wants to have this year sew when we go to her home she and I will work on the matching roman blind for her bedroom.

shadow box quilt

close up of border fabric

With the cool weather today I will be putting some zucchini soup on . I do enjoy this one and have reduced the calories in it by using 2% milk instead of cream , we thought it was just fine this way. I also just saw another version of it with a cream cheese blended in instead of the cream ...... oh the possibilities. 

Zucchini Bisque Soup

1-2 tsp marg / butter /olive oil
1 large onion
1 1/2 pounds cubed zucchini
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp basil
salt and pepper
1 cup cream or evaporated milk

Boil onion ,butter and zucchini with chicken stock for 15 mins. Let cool slightly. Puree in 2 batches. to the first batch add nutmeg basil and 1/2 the cream. add remaining cream to second batch. blend together. serve hoe or cold. Freezes well

I tend to blend it all at the same time with a hand blender which works just fine for me ... less dishes
I also will add cheddar cheese and steamed broccoli or cauliflower in the microwave.  leftover potatoes and crumbed bacon are good as well.

Its  a little warmer now ... maybe 8, sure a long way from the weekend which was in the low 30's.

this is what is at the sewing machine at the moment, the BBQ cover will be later today. I have a few errands to run,
 sew take care out there
 and if you have a bunch of zucchini around give the soup a try I know we all like it here even hubby.
in stitches and hugs
Annette