A Very Pieceful Day…

Yesterday afternoon I had a few hours before dinner…and I REALLY felt like firing up the sewing machine!  SEW I grabbed this bag of wee triangles that I bought at a garage sale for $2 and did some mindless piecing…sewing a light coloured triangle to a dark….and listened to my audio book…ahhhhhhhh…bliss!

Before I knew it, I had a long snake of triangles and the bag was empty!

I ironed each little triangle with the seam going towards the dark side…

And then got out my new Bloc Loc Ruler…it was still in cellophane so this was going to be the test drive!  This Ruler is suppose to make squaring up half square triangles a breeze!  The proof is in the pudding…

So HERE she is…see the diagonal frosted line..well that is really an indented channel where the seam nestles.

Remember I pressed my seams to the dark side…see how the ruler fits right over that seam.  I want these blocks squared up to be 2” squares…

so I shave off a bit on the top and right side…

…then I SLID the ruler down to the bottom of the ruler so it was lined up with the bottom of my block.  I line it up on the 2” x 2” sides (see top and right side of block). 

You can see that it is exactly a 2” square…so then I rotary cut the left side and the bottom (just needed to cut a sliver)…and she is DONE!  Fast and easy…a perfect 2” square!  No twisting the block and no placing the ruler again! 

It didn’t take long to square up this pile of HST! 

This Bloc Loc ruler ain’t cheap (about $27)…BUT sometimes when something is good…really, really GOOD you have to bite the bullet!!  If you do a lot of HST then hustle out and buy one of these babies…you won’t be sorry!

This is going to be a VERY sweet scrappy table topper!  Darlene from Quilting Daze was wishing everyone a very PIECEful day…I think it’s safe to say I did just that!!  Thanks, Darlene!!

I hope you get to have a PIECEful day sometime this week too! There’s nothing like it! ~P

Dropping by for a coffee?

You will never guess who did JUST THAT! 

None other than our very own SEW CAL GAL!  Yup…here’s where we rendezvoused!!  (Her mug is on the right!…can you see her lip prints?)

Yowzers!!  SEW CAL GAL is like the QUEEN in the quilting blogging world!!  The Jennifer Lopez of the Grammies, the Meryl Streep of the movies…well you get the idea!  She’s a big deal…and here we are talking shop…like regular people!! ;o))

We met here because it was easy for both of us to get to and frankly…if the conversation lagged there was plenty to look at!  But seriously, if you were to walk by, we wouldn’t have noticed…we were in heavy conversation the whole time.  There was a ton to discuss…from quilting, to blogging, to designers, to free motion quilting, to Quilt Shows.  An hour and a half FLEW by…and then it was time for both of us to go!  Two old friends parting…until next year…same time, same place, next year?  Or maybe lunch at Road to California?  Who knows…but one thing is for sure…we will meet up…as two old friends should!

Thanks, SEW CAL GAL…it was great meeting you!  And for someone SEW famous you were almost normal!  haha  (See we can joke like good friends can…right?…ahhh…right?…:} 

If you haven’t read SEW CAL GAL’s blog then what are you waiting for?!  Hurry on over and tell her that her new BFF sent you!  You aren’t going to meet a nicer, friendlier, kinder, more thoughtful quilter…anywhere in the Quilting World!  And you can quote me on that one!

Have a good one!! P:O)

I Cheated!

Well the rooster is crowing and the coffee is brewing…and it is another gorgeous day on Vancouver Island!  What can I say…it doesn’t get any better than this!

A few months back, Heritage Quilt Guild was donated a truck load of panels…you know cheater tops, as I’ve heard some call them.  They were all laid out on tables and we ooohhhed and auhhhhed them. (Wish I had taken a picture!! Such variety and colours and styles!) The Heritage members were given a challenge…take home a panel and turn it into something wonderful for charity!

I spotted this Mary Engelbreit panel and remembered that I had some of Mary’s fabric left over from a Dresden Quilt that I had made a couple of years ago.  This would be a good way to use up that fabric...

So I took it home and lickity-split…in no time at all I had my quilt made!!  It was a fast, easy and FUN quilt to make! 

 

I didn’t have as much of the fabric as I had hoped so I was limited to what I could do…so I ended up keeping it simple!  More borders…

..and circle flowers to mimic the flowers in the fabric…

I quilted them on as I went…

 

She’s done!  AND in plenty of time…due date was end of the of summer!  This was my first panel quilt but it certainly won’t be my last!  This would make a fast and easy gift for any baby or child! 

I cheated…and I’m proud of it! :o)) 

Have a good one! P