Monday, December 14, 2009

Christmas Pillowcases

Spent the day making pillowcases for our 4 grandchildren for Christmas. It was so much fun to choose fabrics for the different children. One little girl likes anything with horses, a preschool boy is in love with the movie Cars, race cars for the little older boy and pink leopard print for the oldest girl.


These pillowcases were really fast and easy to make. I used the method described in the YouTube video posted below. (I hope it gets posted OK as I have not done this before.) Anyway back to the pillowcase instructions - had never thought of putting a pillowcase together this way before. It was quicker than any I have ever done before and the seams are all enclosed so now there will not be any raveling either. Need to get fabric for two more for nieces and nephews and make them yet. I forgot about them when I was getting fabric for my grandkids so will pick up something when I get to Grand Island on Wednesday.

I made pillowcases for the 3 older grandchildren several years ago and they used them all the time. The little one wasn't born when I made them last time so am excited for him to have a pillowcase made especially for him. I am requesting that all the kids bring their own pillows when they come so after they open them they can use them that night....how much fun will that be!

OK - here goes, keep your fingers crossed that the YouTube video will post below.....


Until Later,
Lynn

Half Square Triangles - Another Method

Warning....lots of photos to illustrate this method for making half square triangles. This is the method Bonnie Hunter describes in step 2 of her Carolina Christmas Mystery.

First step - press 2 1/2" strips of light and dark together. Pressing two fabrics together before cutting or sewing makes them sort of stick together.

Bonnie uses the Easy Angle ruler for the cutting but I am using the Omnigrid ruler below and it is working great. Have to admit I have never used this ruler before - I won a complete set of Omnigrid rulers years ago for a miniature quilt I entered in a magazine contest. Wonderful prize but got rulers I didn't know what to do with so it is nice to learn how to use them.

To use this ruler you first need to square off one end of the fabric strips you pressed together.

First angle cut - do remember I am left handed so you would cut from the other end if you are right handed. Look at the placement of the ruler, the 2" line is along the bottom of the strip and the straight edge is along the cut end. (Am using 2" line as the finished block is to be 2" square)

Cut along the angled edge of the ruler and you get one set of triangles ready to stitch.

Flip the ruler over lining up the 2" line along the upper edge of the strip and cut along the straight edge of the ruler.

Now two triangle units are ready to stitch. Notice one of the tips is missing from the triangles - it is supposed to be this way.

I have found that if I stitch from the point to the other end of the triangle I have better luck. When I stitched some from the opposite direction I had trouble with the seam wanting to get too narrow as the point went under the presser foot and I had to restitch it to get the 1/4" seam.

Press the units flat first to set the seams. I set the seams of anything I sew before opening as it seems to make opening and pressing easier for some reason.

Press the triangle squares open like you do using any other method of making them.

Pressed unit all done.

Clip off the one dog ear to complete the unit.

So far this method has worked very well....will keep plugging along as I don't have time to sit long at a time to sew these days but a little at a time and soon I will have all the units finished.

There is no way I can keep up with the steps for this mystery as they are published but am working at my own speed. So far I am enjoying the process and anxious to see what the quilt will look like when it is done. I will not peek at the finished quilt if I can help it until I am to that point as I know it will be published before I am to that step.

Happy, happy quilting,
Lynn

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Carolina Christmas - Step 1

The strips for step one are cut - 2 1/2" wide of cream and gold. As you can see I have some stitched and an unruly pile waiting to be paired up. See Elaine, it didn't stay clean too long.

Here is an even closer look at the jumbled pile.

I put my rotating mat on the top of my pressing surface so I don't have to bend over to cut. These strip sets had to be cross cut into 2 1/2" slices....192 of them.

Decided I had better sew when I can so I don't get too behind on the steps to this mystery. I am printing off the steps as they come out so I can have it handy to read as I stitch. Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville the creator of the Carolina Christmas mystery has lots of hints in her instructions so don't want to miss out on any of them.

Happy Quilting,
Lynn

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Snow and Blowing Snow

Nebraska got hit with a snow storm yesterday that will definitely qualify as a blizzard. It snowed all day with some wind but not strong winds until after dark last night when the wind just roared. The snow was drifted in places pretty high and other places were blown free of all snow.

First off I want you to know all of these photos were taken from the comfort of my house so some may have smudges or views through the screens so please take that in consideration when looking at them. It was 0 degrees F. this morning and the wind chill temp. was supposed to be -24 degrees F. and this girl is not crazy enough to go outside just to get photos of the snow in conditions like this. Now at noon the wind has gone down a little but up until now it was still blowing the snow and re-drifting the places that John had cleared with the tractor. The sun is shining so it looks nice even though it is frigid out there.

This first photo shows the front of the garage - notice no snow on part of the parking pad but there is a 3 foot drift right in front of the entire two car garage. John had to open one of the big garage doors and climb over/through the drift to get out as the other two back doors were blocked with large drifts.

This next photo shows our deck - the entire thing is covered with a 3-4 foot drift that will have to be hand shoveled off. Too bad the snow blower can't get up there.

Ok, now for the back (west side) of our house. The pointy drift in front of my sewing room window is really tall and is probably about 7 feet at the tip. It started at the north side of the house, wrapped around the house and continues through my garden and flower bed.

Another photo of the same drift - this time I was standing at the window of my sewing room. That is the 3 foot air conditioning unit on the left side of the photo.


We have an L shaped house with the garage and back hall on the short part of the L so took this photo looking straight north from the north hall door. The drift doesn't look so big from this angle does it?

Looking north west from my sewing room window. The windbreak trees we planted about 5 years ago are starting to catch snow. Will be nice in a few years to have them be taller and more dense to keep more of the snow away from the house.

Ok, now I am looking out my living room towards the south. See how the wind blew the snow off the front sidewalk. Sunday we had snow too and John had used the snow blower so you can tell where it left a ridge. Yesterday there was probably a foot of snow on the sidewalk but during the night it blew it away.

Last photo - this is looking east-south east at the driveway to our yard/farm. There were several small drifts John had to clear out then this big one that was 3-4 feet high. It almost covered the split rail fence around the lawn.

John was out all morning in the tractor clearing snow drifts and taking care of the cattle. Yesterday they were across the road from home in a corn stalk field. (Cattle are fenced in the harvested fields and they clean up the dropped corn. We haul water to them in the various fields and they get moved to a new field every few weeks.)

We had pickups with the flashers on to warn traffic as we moved them across the highway to the lots here yesterday morning as the visibility was low due to the snow falling. John had the tractor and a bale of hay to get them to follow him. Only one car came while the 100 cows and 100 calves ran across. The older cows remember and lead the younger ones and they knew it would be better over here than where they were. Cattle have a tendency to drift with blizzards and once they break out or walk over the fences covered by drifts they can go miles with a storm so we wanted to get them in more secure pens plus John can feed them here and we don't have to haul water as they can drink out of the tank.

Lynn

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