Stained Glass Strings Diamond Quilt

Here's the finished Stained Glass Strings Diamond quilt.

Let me say again, this quilt as you go, scrappy, string quilt is just 'sew' fun to make!

I'll be adding the tutorial on making both versions, to the Schoolhouse of my site, within the next few...

The Update newsletter will have the link!

Happy Leap Day Stitching!

Stitching Forever Hugs from Me...

Rounding the last corner, when adding the binding to a quilt, is such a pleasure!

I'm excited to be able to finally gift this Stained Glass Diamond Strings quilt, to a good friend.

I've included love in every stitch, so when she wraps herself in this quilt, it'll forever be like (((big hugs))) from me!

Happy Stitching!

Sew Pretty!

Last Call...

Patchwork Sewing Machine Cover

I'm getting ready to begin making another Patchwork Sewing Machine Cover - as a gift.

If you'd like to stitch along, to make one for yourself, purchase the pattern & I'll send you the details.

You'll find my Patchwork Sewing Machine Cover Pattern here.

Sew Pretty!

A Big Catch Up - Continued

With today's sunshine, I shall continue catching you up.

After hanging the different parts of my Stained Glass String Diamonds quilt up on the design wall - I couldn't wait to see how it all looked together - I decided to make it my daily sewing project.
I made sure that I stitched across one square, each day, to get some steady progress.
In this picture the bottom row was one seam away from being joined...and then I needed to stitch the rows together and then the binding.
It's such a fun way to make a quilt, as the quilting is already done!

I can report today that I'm now on the binding and this quilt will be finished very soon.
I'll share the finished picture when it's ready.

Here's what the back of it looks like.

Psst...When this quilt is completely done, I'll be adding the tutorial for both versions of my Stained Glass Strings in the Schoolhouse of my site.
Stay tuned!!

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Fun Sewing Tidbit...

A while ago I saw a picture of a Gutermann spool of thread with one end pulled out - and that blew me away, as I never knew you could do that.
I was crazy busy, and soon forgot about it.
Then, when I remembered it again, I had trouble finding a spool in my thread collection.
As it turns out I've never purchased a spool of Gutermann cotton thread.
After a bit of digging I found this spool from back in the day, when I sewed some clothes to wear to work.
It made me remember the green outfit this thread was used for.

I checked the Gutermann site for information about this secret compartment, and couldn't find anything!
It holds a needle and is a great way to keep a needle, with the spool, in your hand sewing bag.

Had to share...

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I love my tractor block, from the current If I Drive... quilt series - 'Sew' Fun!
I knew I was looking for that stripe fabric for the background, before I even opened my bright green bucket of fabrics.
I could picture the stripes in my mind, looking like a plowed field!

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My free Block of the Month quilt project for 2020 is called 'Personalize It!'

The initial tutorial and first two initials are online here.
Please Note: Each initial will be available free to all for the first month they are online.
If you miss any and are not a member, you'll be able to purchase them.

Of course, they'll remain free to Members!

Some quilt tips to share...

For the first project I was cutting strips down into squares.
To keep me from cutting way too many squares - which saves me time, I take the total number of squares I need and divide it by the number of different fabrics I'm using.
The answer gives me the minimum number of squares I want to have of each fabric.

Using math for my quilting was never on my mind in math class!

My black with white and white with black patches are all cut!
The leftovers are sorted into 4 piles -
1. The bowl is the tiniest bits, going into a pretty pillowcase and eventually made into another pillow for my kitties - as I mentioned in my last post.
2. The pile on the top left are for strings - very short ones.
3. The center pile will be cut into 1 1/2" squares for my Postage Stamps with a Twist quilt
4. The pile on the right are large enough for 2" squares and I've got a bunch of those to play with sometime.

For this series you choose a favourite colour, which is a great way to personalize a quilt.
The spring green fabric I used for the letter B is my favourite colour!

Careful - you'll want to laugh at me...
One of the things that I love with quilting is the 'using up' - hence my love of scrappy quilts.
I've recently been saving these tiny bits of black fabric, which I normally would only be saved for the pillowcase filling.
Because two of my current quilts use this black fabric for the letters and some details, I figured I'd be using them up, so I saved them.
But other than using a few, the pile got bigger and bigger.

Then, when making up the letter B - I needed to make 22 tiny black leaves, and it thrilled me to know I had all these tiny bits to use!

Simple pleasures!

And here's the Personalize It! Checkerboard lap quilt - in progress.
All the blocks are sewn together.

Next the rows.

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Throughout 2020 you have a chance to win my Let's Have a Cuppa! set, which includes the pretty table topper, tea cozy, trivet & 2 coasters - with every purchase you make from Victoriana Quilt Designs.
As a bonus you'll receive 5 entries for purchasing a Permanent Membership!
Plus look for the x5 button for other special bonus patterns.

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What's Your 2020 Sewing Resolution?

The planning has begun for Victoriana Quilt Designs - 2020 will be 'Sew Fun'.
The details can be found in the Permanent Members Nook I've set up through my Facebook page!

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Free Printable Quilt Poster

Some of our favourite words!
If you'd like a copy for yourself, there's a free quality printable, available on my site.

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My weekend stitching progress = a new cat toy!

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The segments that some pincushions have help keep different pins together.
It doesn't take any extra time to pin them back, and easier to find the one you want.

[This is one from my Playing with Pincushions series.]

There...I believe that catches you up!

Enjoy!

A Big Catch Up - Part #1

I know it's been many months since I've posted here, and my main reason is my lack of power.
I've kept track of what I wanted to share, though...so you'll find all the tidbits below.

I just noticed that the last time I posted - in October, was just about the same amount of weeks from the winter solstice - as today is past it.
I'm happily noticing the longer days.
Beautiful sunny morning, so lots of power right now!

I love when this happens:

This tiny square tripped me down memory lane...
It's a scrap from the baby doll nightie I made in home economics in high school.

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To take the pictures of my Pixelated Garden quilt, in my small house, I had to move a whole bunch of things, to clear a wall.
This pine box full of some of my design papers/files, which hadn't been moved in 9 years, had to be emptied before I could budge it.
It would have been fun, if I had the time to look through the papers.
I thought perhaps in the winter on one of the no electricity days.
However that didn't happen, as I've been up to something else, that I will be sharing soon.

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I found this pretty pillowcase at the thrift store.
My teeny tiniest scrap bits & threads are building up again, so I'll soon be able to make another pillow for the kitties to use.
Super easy - fill the pillowcase and stitch it closed!

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When looking through some older pictures I found this one, that I'm pleased to share with you.

This is my friend Alice Hutt standing with her Tumbler Star quilt.
We met through our quilt guild, and she was one of the first people to seriously encourage my quilt designing.
I haven't lived close to her for 18 years, but have many, many fond memories of our time together.

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This is my quilted wall hanging 'The Mill' which I made for a quilt competition back in 1992.
I spent over 200 hours on this one.
It was before quilt fabrics were available with rocks & leaves and other great prints for pictorial quilts.
That rock wall was stitched one rock at a time.
I used upholstery fabric for the stream and that's tulle where the water splashes.
The wood walls & roof details are quilted embroidery floss.
And I quilted a tiny clam-shell design as the leaves of the trees.

If you're interested, I have a few more of my pictorial quilts on the Gallery page of my site.

It was an awakening for me, that competitions were not where I wanted to put my energy, as winning can depend on many things.
In the case of The Mill, the curator of the competition didn't want to take my thin rod, to hang it, insisting she had one.
The one she used was a big, fat one, which distorted my piece - and all the judges mentioned that in their comments.

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Did you know?

I've this pretty little bag tutorial for you, on my site here.

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This is my new Pixelated Garden Quilt Pattern.
I 'sew' loved making this queen size quilt, and I'm sure you will, too!

Playing with Fabric - Sew Fun!

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Something you probably didn't know about me...

The fabric I have has different angels to choose from, but I chose the one playing violin, as a nod to my 4 years of playing lead violin in our school orchestra.

This gives you a good view of how I prepare most of my applique patches - by basting them.

This is six of the nine blocks from my Blue & White Tiles - quilt as you go wall hanging.

Block #7 will be online next week.

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Well...the clouds are coming in, so I'll have to stop there for now.
I'll post more of my catch up tidbits soon!

Happy Weekend Stitching!