QUILT COMPANY EAST QUILT SHOW - TODAY THRU SATURDAY

These baskets are available - at the QCE Quilt Show...

10am-7pm Thurs., Nov 4th
10am-7pm. Fri., Nov 5th
10am-4pm Sat., Nov 6th
3 Lakes Golf Club
6700 Saltsburg Rd
Penn Hills, PA 15235

Greensburg Modern Quilt Guild and a drive over the mountain...

For "Make a Difference Day" the Greensburg Modern Quilt Guild joined together to start a new quilt from "Habitat" fabrics....

Mary, Judy and Kathleen with their blocks

Mary, Kathleen...... and ME..... working on our blocks!

We had six blocks finished, and enjoyed a lot of conversation, pattern patter, and sewing tips!

The next day, Sunday, was a beautiful- sunny- bright- perfect- day- for- a- drive kind of day.  So, Kathy and I took a break from our sewing machines and went off to enjoy a little foliage before the fall rains wash it all into the gutters!

The pull off was the site of a former restaurant built in the shape of a ship that had burned years ago... but the rubble remains.   I still find it amazing that anything was ever built on this spot!  It must be a bad spot for fires, because there was a car that pulled off and burned here more recently - altho not much evidence of that remained....

The view is still spectacular, and worth the drive!

 Looking south/southeast towards Somerset, PA

and as the sun got lower on the horizon... there was another photo op!

Then we stopped for a nice dinner on the way home! 

Hoping your weekend was also lovely, 
hugs & smoochies,
ggs

how remove sticky tags from fabric...

A fat quarter often has a label on it - price tag or other wise - and most of the time they peel right off without a struggle.  However, once in a while that label has been on that fabric for way too long - and it refuses to come off without a fight!

Recently, while pressing a fat quarter, I noticed that the label had not come completely off... there were still 'label remnants' stuck to the right side of that fabric.  However, it peeled right off while the fabric was still hot from the iron!

I could have saved myself so much time if I'd only known this sooner....  Just press it from the wrong side (not the label itself - the 'other side') until it's nice and hot - then it peels right off!  Sew simple, everyone should know this trick... but I've never seen it before.

If you test this on other fabrics... make sure the heat of the iron isn't too high for the fabric you are pressing.  Wool, silk, rayon, and polyester blends can't take the high temp that cotton and linen take.

Save your scraps and selvedges in big plastic jars like this pic I found on C&T's blog:

Someone's in the basement with Helga....

Hi friends,

I'm a little busy today trying to quilt my Happiness Key Mystery Quilt - designed by Pat Sloan, blogged in tandem with author Emilie Richards fabulous novel...  a trilogy perfect for summer reading... I read a total of 7 of her books this summer.  They were all tough to put down - no wonder I got so little quilting done the past couple of months!

This pic was taken with about half the applique and embroidered words - it looks much better than this now - really!

You can see the results of the other HK quilts and a few assorted challenges along the way at the Flickr group here.  I'll add a pic of my finished quilt as soon as I get the binding on... I promise!!!

Have to get busy so I can party with family tomorrow!

September is here already!

The past two weeks have been a blur - I know I was in Philadelphia at the Bead Fest (Oaks) for a day, had a wonderful visit with my lovely daughter, toured the new headquarters of Quilts for Kids, and spent a horrible amount of time doing laundry...  oh, yes, now I remember...  dear sweet hubby was working on the plumbing while I was away, and I've been cleaning up the after effects ever since!

The good part is that the kitchen sink is now draining nicely.  I won't dwell on the still ongoing cleanup efforts.

I did manage to get a little fabric postcard made for my FATraders exchange group.

Fiber art by Thea McCurry

This was for the "Dog Dayz of Summer" trade.  Couldn't resist this little snoozing pooch.

As much as I love summer weather, Hurricane Irene has been tough on some of my friends & family lately.  Sure hope the folks in Vermont are able to get back to normal soon.

Would love to visit longer, but there is thunder & lightning here today, so this is brief.

Hoping to post again soon!
Enjoy your Labor Day weekend.

putting on the brakes - what to do when the quilt back is too short...

So yesterday, I thought I was making great headway on a little scrap quilt.  I had pieced the back according to "John's diagonal method" and thought I had plenty of backing under this little quilt.
I realized just in the nick of time that the backing was going to be about 4" shy of getting to the edge of the last border...  YIKES!!! how did that happen?  I had measured so carefully - this just could not be!

I checked again... yes, for sure, it would not reach. Just a few inches.

So, what did I do you ask?  (or maybe not...)  I stopped right there in the middle of the quilt.  I took the whole thing off the frame, and cut the existing backing fabric about 6 inches away from the quilting I had just finished - in a nice straight line.... well, okay, I confess - I actually TORE that strip off.  I had a 'short' piece left in the 'backings box' that was never going to back much of anything and I cut that in half to make a piece long enough to match the piece I had already torn off the quilt back, sewed those together and then added the new piece a little into the middle of the quilt back rather than just adding it to the edge.

Now it looks like I pieced the back this way intentionally, and here is a pic of the finished quilt

 yes, the binding is on it now... I used the dark teal/turquoise for the binding.  all done.  what's next?

Quilts for Kids day at the quilt frame

QuiltsforKids.org is going to get the one I'm quilting today - it's on the frame, I'll post a pic as soon as I have it done... before I send this one and another to Philadelphia (I will probably take them in person next week) click on the linkie to see a gallery of grateful kids.

This is not to be confused with Quilts4Kids.com which is a similar organization in Australia.  I can't afford the shipping to send them quilts, but if you're in Au, maybe you could help them out.  They have several kids on their waiting list who would appreciate your help.

Having a wonderful day, hope you are too!
I just found out I won the red/aqua fabric bundle from Michael Miller fabrics....  how lucky can I get?   I really hit the jackpot this birthday!
aren't these wonderful? 

Thank you Michael Miller!!!!
now hop on over to their blog and comment to win some Red/White/Black fabrics....good luck!