Today is Labour Day and I hope everyone had a great day with family and friends.  The weather here in Niagara (Ontario) was sunny and warm. 

Alas, I had to go to work to get a table runner quilted.  It is for a class we will be teaching in the fall.  Its from Sue Daley's English Paper Piecing book and was beautifully made by Cathy Hetherington. 

For inspiration, I used Deloa Jones book on feathers.  I love all of DeLoa's books and she has really good templates as well.  My favourite template is her Appliguide which I use all the time for quilting around applique.  We sell her products at our store and our online store.  www.thequiltbee.com

Here is the table runner loaded and ready ... now on with the quilting.

You can just barely see my markings in this one.  My leader grips are showing.  Haven't tried leader grips? check them out on our website www.thequiltbee.com

Looks pretty good.  Not as good as DeLoa by any means but I learned a lot through the process and next time will definitiely be better.

Ten Minute Block

I discovered something new on YouTube last week called "The Ten Minute Block".  It blew me away.  I found it while visiting one of my favourite blogs "Sew Kind of Wonderful" blogspot and looked at some of the other blogs she was following.  I don't remember which blog it was but a blogger was talking about the ten minute block and had a link to the video.  Here is the link.

I have become aware that this block has been around a while but its new to me so I have taken a layer cake from the store and am in the process of making our first sample.  We have ordered two books by "Design Originals" to have in the store for sale.  Once you see the video you will know why I am excited about this.

This is my layer cake fabric.  Its French General by Moda ... Collection Fa La La La La (last year).

Wow, that was fast (maybe a little more than ten minutes because trying to sort out the middle section was a bit fiddly.  Next one should be quicker.  I will time it.

I'm going to do the cathedral window curve as shown in the video.

I have now made six blocks.  All of them took at least 15 minutes but that okay because they really look nice and still pretty darn quick.

Here are a few pics of Urban Birthday quilted.  I finished it yesterday and just have to bind. I quilted it on my Handi Quilter Fusion with Glide thread for the circles on the top.  This thread is awesome ... no breakage whatsoever. I also used their magnaglide pre-wound bobbins with a special bobbin case with the spring removed on the bottom of the case.  Don't use these magnetic bobbins in your regular case because as I learned the hard way, they will break your bobbin case.  The colourful fabric I used Monopoly by Superior and pre-wound bottom line bobbins. I will show a picture of it hanging in the store when its up.

You can't really see, but I did simple feathers in the colourful bits.

New project today ... ten minute block!

Yeah ... I'm done!  Now how to quilt it?

Have I mentioned how much I love this fabric.  Its called "Pretty Little Things" by Free Spirit and you can get it at The Quilting Bee.

Urban Birthday Progress

Okay, I am a little slow in getting this done.  However, I have been very busy at the store and snuck in a well deserved (I think so) vacation at a cottage with family. 

I hope to be finished the piecing of Urban Birthday this weekend.

English Paper Piecing

Yesterday, July 23rd, 2012, we had one of three - free classes on the New English Paper Piecing method by Sue Daley.  What a lot of fun.  Sue Daley's books, patterns, and pre-cut papers are very popular right now.
Come in today to see what all the excitement is about.

Finally, a day off

It's Sunday, July 22 and I finally have a day off.  I promised myself a full day of doing what I want and not going into the store.  So here I am in my sewing room that my wonderful husband built for me sewing what I want and enjoy being home.

If you are like me you have many projects on the go at one time.  Presently, I have four.  Today I am going to show you one of them because I'm so excited about it. 

I wanted to do another quilt using the Quick Curve Ruler by Sew Kind of Wonderful.  Jenny (of Sew Kind of Wonderful) has lots of patterns to choose from using her ruler, and I have had my eye on Urban Birthday for a while.  I have also had my eye on a fabric line called "Pretty Little Things" by Free Spirit.  This fabric and the Quick Curve Ruler can be found on our website www.thequiltbee.com.

The first thing to be done was cut 9 inch strips from about eleven fabrics (this pattern is also layer cake friendly).  Then cut again into 9 x 10 inch rectangles.  Then you do the same for your background colour.

So here is what I have so far and today I intend to sew, sew sew ...

If you like what you see here, you can get more information from Jenny's blog.  There is a tutorial on how to use her ruler .... http://sewkindofwonderful.blogspot.ca/

Here is the link directly to her tutorial  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOsrBST1AXo&feature=player_embedded