Sew Kind Of Wonderful

"Sew Expo" update

2012-03-01T18:52:00.001-08:00

...so I wanted to let you know how it went.

Just a bit overwhelming! I had no idea that "Sew Expo" was so big! I thought I was showing up early and as I drove by the entrance there was all ready a line outside of people waiting for the doors to open! Ugh....stomach dropped a little bit at that moment!

Long story short, It went well. I smiled and demoed and did my thing.....a lot were intrigued and a lot weren't and I just smiled and kept doing my thing. I passed out some business cards and a couple rulers were sold while I was there and many said they would be back...It was a great first day and a great learning day. Definitely doing a couple of things different tomorrow....to make it easier for me.

I left about 12 with a massive headache!! My daughter had her last basketball game this afternoon and so I wanted to get back to that....

...so now I want to talk a little bit about my Brittany...she's got a competitive streak in her and she didn't get it from me!....when it comes to sports that is!

Poor girl got hit in the mouth during the game...by the same girl that elbowed her in the math the last time they played the same team. ;o(

...but this time it pushed one of her front teeth back and I'm so worried it did nerve damage. She was a trooper and went back out to play and sadly they lost, but they played hard! My nerves are still frazzled from that!!

Brittany is the one in the middle. Love her and she fought a good fight today...her mouth is a little swollen and the gum above her tooth is a little blue...so worried, hope she'll be ok!

~Jenny~

..and we are going to the Dentist in the morning!

Ready or not here I come!

2012-02-29T23:34:00.001-08:00

Fabric cut and ready to go!

I almost got the tutorial done up for the "Urban Deco" block but have ran out of time, darn it!! It's the upper left block and will have to wait a couple more days.

Thanks again ladies!

~Jenny~

Thanks for taking a minute!

2012-02-28T20:42:00.003-08:00

I wanted to say THANKS SO MUCH for taking a minute and giving me some great advise and encouragement! You have no idea how much it means to me! I now have and idea and know exactly what direction I want to go with my demo and what I need to do tomorrow to get ready for it.

Loved the great thoughts and ideas!!!

I really hope to meet all of you some day and give you a big hug!! If it wasn't for your kindness and encouraging comments I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing. I feel so much a part of a little quilting community on line and have met some amazing people and I just wanted to share that with you...okay...getting a little serious..

...and I've got some good news. I heard back from Lori this last week, she was testing my Urban Pods quilt. She finished and I made some changes on the pattern and it's going to be ready here soon!

If you've watched my You Tube video's, Urban Pods is the quilt that's hanging up behind me.

I still have this hanging up in my family room because my family room's colors are these right now. It's my husbands favorite and I'm excited to finally have a pattern out for it!

.... and I'm posting the Tutorial for the "Urban Deco" block tomorrow (Urban Nine Patch and "More" block). Karen..thought of that name for me and I liked it, thanks Karen!

And I want to let you all know how it go's for me on Thursday, if you don't mind.... I'll be sharing that with you too ;-)

~Jenny~

a little advise...please

2012-02-27T21:10:00.000-08:00

okay...I'm going to admit something about myself and that is I'm a "Wing It" person! I'm actually quite good at it too...that is if I know what I'm doing.

...so remember when I mentioned my ruler and pattern being at Sew Expo...well, when I dropped off the rulers and patterns last week for them to take to Expo, I threw out the idea of me possibly demoing my ruler and patterns. Long story short they are giving my a few hours on Thursday, Friday and Saturday to demo it! Okay...that's just 3 days away and I'm not comfortable with the "wing it" concept this time!

I have some ideas...I've got a couple of quilts I've been waiting to cut into, so I have some fabric to cut and there will be a sewing machine there for me to use and well...that's about it.

and this is where I really need some advise

Please?

Have you seen a demo and what did you like or dislike about it?

Visuals?

How long should a demo last?

???

~Jenny

Friday Night Piecing!

2012-02-25T10:14:00.002-08:00

I love piecing!! I think it's my favorite part when it comes to quilting and last night I had fun with some more piecing!

I did up another solid Urban Niner (that's what my husband calls it)

Interesting...on point???

I'm REALLY going to love this when it's all done! I'm keeping with the two different shades of blue for each block and then accenting with a color that go's with blue!! Amazing how many colors go with the aqua blue shade!

Added the "More" to another print block and this time is was much easier and faster, since I knew what I was doing!

I'm going to love the design created between the blocks!

And that was my Friday Night Piecing!

~Jenny~

Urban Nine Patch and "More"

2012-02-24T13:56:00.000-08:00

Last night I cut my fabric out for my Urban Nine Patches so I could wake up this morning first thing and assemble them, it is Friday after all ;o)...

I'm loving how my Solids one is going together, but I'm not falling in love with how the print blocks have been coming together.....so when I awoke this morning I had an idea....

This turned out to be something entirely different than my idea!

This is what I did:

...so I made another Urban Nine Patch block, but than added "More"...I cut and sewed and cut and sewed and picked out and turned and rearranged and measured and measured again and although it turned out looking so simple...it was quite a process to get this point.

...but I love it and I'm going to add the "More" to each of my print blocks!

..and I sadly did not get my solid block done up....I got a little carried away with the "More" one.

..and remember it's never to late to join in on the Urban Nine Patch QAL.

The tutorial is found here.

And the ruler can be purchased here.

And if you have some amazing blocks done up and want to share them with us all, then you can do that here.

And if you like what I did to this block and would like a tutorial for the "More" block, I would be happy to do that....just comment and let me know.

~Jenny~

In Love!

2012-02-20T15:48:00.000-08:00

Do you ever come across a fabric that you absolutely fall in love with? Well...I did the other day! While on my outings to a few quilt shops I picked up some goodies...but this by far was my favorite!! It's Wrenly by Valorie Wells. It's just so simple but contemporary and even though it's an upholstery fabric doesn't mean I can't use it in a quilt, right?

Found these too! LOVE...LOVE...

...and I've had these Pat Bravo's for a while I purchased from Fabric Envy...and plan on cutting into them for a new quilt this week. A design I've wanted to do for a long time! Then once I finish this quilt and the Urban Nine Patch quilt I'll be ready for another photo shoot by my most awesome photographer friend Andrea (after I quilt them of course...all 6 of them)!

~Jenny~

Urban Nine Patch QAL ~ Week #2

2012-02-17T10:44:00.000-08:00

Wanted to check in with everyone participating with the
Urban Nine Patch Quilt Along.

I finished my blocks for the week this morning!

This is my print block I did up. I really like the brown and cream print in this block.

And this is my solid color block. I love orange and aqua together!!

And I'm doing up a couple of these a week....because I will need 20 blocks for this quilt.

Hope your having fun putting your blocks together and remember to share them on the Urban Nine Patch Flikr Group!

If you don't have a Flikr account, but still want to show off your blocks, you can e-mail them to me and I can add them to the group for you, just make sure to leave me a little description about them.

And yesterday I was finally ready to go around to some local quilt shops and present my ruler and patterns. It's always kind of scary putting yourself out there, but my good friend Pam came with me and gave me that little extra support I needed! Thanks Pam!!!

...so I loaded up the trunk with some rulers...patterns...brochures...quilts...

....now let me go back a few days...Darci had e-mailed me asking if I would be at Sew Expo (a big sewing gig here in the NW) with my ruler and patterns. Well...unfortunately I e-mailed her back saying I wouldn't be....booths for that show were all booked last November. Maybe next year, right?

Wrong!

Quiltworks Northwest loved my ruler and patterns and even though they all ready had their booth ready as far as patterns and samples go, they are squeezing a couple of my quilts in for samples and want a bunch of each of my patterns along with my rulers!!

Pam and I must have had that dumb founded look on our faces! It really took us by surprise! A good surprise!!

That was fun!

~Jenny~

"Color Obsessed"

2012-02-14T11:33:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of obsessions....quilting for one, but another is color! I've been obsessed about a green/orange/black and white color combo for quite sometime! I've wracked my brain to find...come up with..decide what quilt design would go best with this "color obsessed" and sometimes when I think I've found the perfect pattern to go with my color obsession I FAIL....big time!!

I was so excited to cut into my yummy "color obsessed":

and use it for this design:

....but really?? Not working for me at all!! Love the design! But my "color obsessed" is not working with this design!! ;o(

...okay, let me just throw this out there! MAKE SURE YOUR GOING TO USE THE FABRIC YOU CUT, FOR YOUR PROJECT! Ya...I know cut all that beauty up and now what??

...well since I all ready had my black and whites cut to the measurements of the skinny curve in the Urban Nine Patch and half of my greens cut, I had the idea to make yet a THIRD Urban Nine Patch quilt!

And this time I'm liking it so far!! I'll get my "color obsessed" fix out of the way and can move onto my next "color obsession"!!

And I'm excited about this one, because It's going to be the quilt I use to do my "Urban Nine Patch" pattern with!

How are your Urban Nine Patch's coming along!! I have really enjoyed the Urban Nine Patch Flikr Group and are amazed at how different every one's are turning out to be!

I never thought this would be so much fun!! I'm all ready brainstorming my next Quilt Along!

...and I came home from work today with a nice surprise!

Oh how I love him so much!

~Jenny~

Gave in to some Echo!!

2012-02-13T15:14:00.000-08:00

I've walked by "Echo" from Lotta Jansdotter... at the fabric store so many times and have been so proud of myself for resisting temptation!

Until today!

...and thanks to these inspirational quilts:

1. Saffron Ash, Patchwork Tablerunner, 2. lotta charm quilt, 3. Manzanita Stars, 4. Big Mama and her Baby Echo, 5. Glass Half Full Quilt Front, 6. Garden Trellis Detail

I gave in!!

~Jenny~

Urban Chained Pattern

2012-02-10T21:04:00.000-08:00

Urban Chained Pattern is now available on my Website!

This is a fat quarter friendly quilt and is quite easy to do up! No seams to match up and would be a great one to do up with scrap fabric too!

This pattern is available in Paper or PDF along with the Quick Curve Ruler at sewkindofwonderful.com.

...also free shipping within the United States and reasonable shipping prices everywhere else!!

~Jenny~

Urban Nine Patch Block Done

2012-02-08T16:04:00.000-08:00

Week ~ 1 (block #2 of quilt #2)

I found out something interesting when doing this block up and wanted to share.

I noticed a difference with the middle curve piece compared to my last solid block (the block I did up for the tutorial). This print fabric is much more flexible. All fabrics when stretched on the bias act differently and this fabric was pretty stretchy.

In the picture above, notice the different placement of each seam. The print block seems to have a tighter curve than the solid block.

Personally....this doesn't bother me. It doesn't change the block size or the construction of the block what so ever. It just makes a slightly skinner curve shape.

...but if you think this will bother you..

...so when working with your different fabrics and you may have one that will seem stretchier than others, spray starch the 7 1/2" x 8 1/2" square before cutting out your (4) inner curve pieces, this will help those pieces from stretching when sewed.

I just wanted to share this with you and while I'm doing up my future blocks, I will share anything else that I think might be helpful or just because ;o)

It's never to late to get your curve on and join in! You can purchase the Quick Curve Ruler here.

...also

You can share your progress on the Urban Nine Patch Flikr group here. And I know how we all love comments, so let's try to comment on each others awesome progress!

~Jenny~

Longarm Quilting

2012-02-08T11:30:00.000-08:00

...so I actually thought, once I released my ruler and first few patterns I would have time to do longarm quilting again! HA!!

oh....how to do both??

Today I'm doing some much needed longarm quilting!

Thanks Lisa for being patient....I'm working my way through and like how it's turning out!

...and how's the Urban Nine Patch's coming along?

It's never to late to get your curve on and join in! You can purchase the Quick Curve Ruler here.

...also

You can share your progress on the Urban Nine Patch Flikr group here. And I know how we all love comments, so let's try to comment on each others awesome progress!

~Jenny~

Urban Nine Patch Tutorial

2012-02-06T12:38:00.000-08:00

Urban Nine Patch Tutorial

Materials:

Nine Patch Block

(1) 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" square (center)

(4) 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" rectangle (middle sides)

(4) 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" square (corners)

Outside curves:

(4) 3" x 8 1/2" rectangle

(1) 7 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangle

(4) 2" x 8 1/2" rectangle

Half Square Triangles:

(2) 3 1/4" x 3 1/4" square

Quick Curve Ruler

Assemble nine patch as shown above.

Make sure to use 1/4 inch seam allowance, nine patch should end up being an 8 1/2" square.

Place the Quick Curve Ruler over left side of block, making sure to center block between the dotted reference lines and the left edge sits under the 2 1/2" mark on ruler. Make your cut.

Flip block and continue to cut each side of block following previous directions.

Stack and place the 3" x 8 1/2" rectangles under ruler, making sure to center between the dotted reference lines and the left side of fabric sits under the 3" mark on ruler. Make your cut.

You will end up with two curve piece shapes.

The half oval curve piece shapes are for the outsides of the nine patch.

Place the outside curve piece about 1/4 - 1/8 in from corner of nine patch. (you don't have to be exact, since we will be squaring the block up) Sew your curve on, repeat for opposite side of block. Press.

For this block, I've found it easier to press seams open to eliminate bulk.

Place the outside curve piece about 1/4 - 1/8 in from corner of nine patch. Sew your curve on, repeat for opposite side of block. Press.

Before squared up.

Square up block to an 8" square, centering as well as you can.

Place the 7 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangles under ruler, making sure to center in between the dotted reference lines and the left edge corners of the fabric sits under the curve cut out. Make your cut.

Shift ruler to right, making sure to center in between the dotted reference lines and the corners of your first cut, sit under the 4" mark on ruler. Make your cut. Repeat this 3 more times. You will end up with 4 curve pieces.

Stack and place the 2" x 8 1/2" rectangles under ruler, making sure to center between the dotted reference lines and the left side of fabric sits under the 3" mark on ruler. Make your cut.

Discard fabric on right.

Now you have your 3 curves that will make up your outside blocks.

Sew middle curve piece on first, make sure the bottom fabric extends about 1/4" past top fabric. Sew.


Before ironing sew on outside curve piece to middle curve piece, make sure bottom fabric extends about 1/4" past top fabric. Sew.

Iron from back, pressing both seams in same direction. Flip block over and iron on top. Repeat this for all 4 outside blocks.

Square up blocks to an 8" x 2 3/4" rectangle, making sure to center the outside seams under the 1/8" marks on the ruler (sample in red circles).

Here is a close up sample.

Square up right and top side.

Flip block and square up other two sides.

For the 1/2 square triangles, place your 3 1/4" x 3 1/4" square on top of each other, alternating the colors. Make a pencil, mark from one corner to the other.

Stitch on each side of the pencil mark.


Cut in half. Press open and square up to a 2 3/4" square.

Layout your blocks following diagram and assemble into 3 rows. Press seams open.

Make sure to pin on intersections. Sew and press seams open.

Repeat for other side.

Example of back of block.

You will end up with a 12 1/2" Urban Nine Patch block!

Freshly Cut

2012-02-04T09:15:00.000-08:00

There's just something about freshly cut, beautiful stacks of fabric!

~Jenny~

Friday Inspiration ~ Layer Cake Quilts

2012-02-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned this before and I'll mention it again....I'm a SUCKER for a layer cake!! It's a weakness of mine when it comes to fabric!

I couldn't resist this Layer Cake (A Stitch in Color by Malka Dubrasky).

I've always love Malka's quilts. So many bold colors with striking prints, so when I saw this layer cake, it was a no brainer!

....so today's inspiration is Layer Cake quilts and here are a few I found that are totally inspirational!

1. Strawbery Banke 3, 2. Apartment Nine, 3. Chrysalis Quilt, 4. Noah's Dog Park, 5. Ruby's Ribbon Box 021 - Copy, 6. 103_7325, 7. Bella Notte pattern by Sweet Jane's, Sophie fabric by Chez Moi, 8. Sherbet Pips quilt 1, 9. Take 1 ~ A Layer Cake Quilt

Thanks so much for the inspiration!!

I've done up a couple of Layer Cake patterns my self.

This quilt is done up using a Sugar Pop Layer Cake by Liz Scott. I love these fabrics and had so much fun putting it together with my daughter!

I'm in the process of doing up the pattern and as you can see, it's not quilted yet ;o(
I'm calling this quilt "Urban Flowers". This will be the last of two that will end my Urban Series.

I've started my next series of designs with 3 quilts done up so far!

And this is Urban Birthday. I used the Layer Cake Just Wing It by Mo Mo.

I cut and pieced this quilt on my Birthday! It was such a fun quilt to do up! This pattern is available in PDF or Paper Pattern on my Website!

I just need another Birthday to devote 100% of fun time with my new layer cake!!

~Jenny~

Urban Nine Patch Quilt Along (curves)

2012-02-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

First off, a few of you have asked about fabric requirements, so I added the yardage on the diagram below. The yardage is for
12 blocks. Of course depending on how many blocks you plan on making will change the yardage but this will give you an idea anyway and just because the diagram makes sense to me, in may not to you. Please let me know.

I figured most of you will be using different fabrics for the nine patch's, but if you would like yardage for that, let me know.

(yardage is for 12 blocks)

Remember the finished (after sewed) size of the block will be 12".

Now on to sewing curves!

Are you intimidated by sewing curves?

Oh....please don't be!! I was so intimidated by curves that I refused to even try it, never was I going to sew curves, I would have rather APPLIQUED curves than sew them!

Yep! All the curves on these blocks were appliqued, by me! Hours and hours and hours.....not saying I didn't enjoy it, but all because I was too scared to try sewing curves.

....so moving on, I think the best demonstration on how to sew the particular curve, cut from the Quick Curve Ruler is to show you my Professional Video (kidding)! Ugh...anyway you'll get it once you see it and if you've all ready watched it, well then your ready to start sewing curves!

Oh Ya...and I have two flikr groups, one for Sew Kind of Wonderful Quick Curve Ruler Quilts and the other for the Urban Nine Patch Quilt Along. Oh, please...please go and join them!!

Urban Nine Patch Quilt Along (fabric)

2012-02-01T15:30:00.000-08:00

There's definitely one thing I've learned through my longarm quilting business when it comes to quilters taste in fabric and that is that every quilter out there has a taste of their own!!

As quilters, we each have our own likes in fabric when it comes to the print.....the color......the texture.....and some times we venture out of our little box to try something new!

...so weather your trying something new or just playing it safe, it all comes down to the part we all love and that's picking out the fabric for a new project.

I'll be doing up two quilts with ya'll, one with solids, since I'm in love with solids right now and one with prints. I'm excited to do both!

These are the fabrics I'm using for my print quilt, along with a solid gray and a solid red.

I'm going to stay consistent with the red and gray solid and the gray print center square for all my blocks. And to make it easy, I'm also going to use the same print for my outside curve and part of my nine patch as shown above.

I've separated my print fabrics into 3 different groups. My first group is my focus fabric, the larger print fabric. My second group is the smaller-coordinating fabric, fabric that will coordinate with my focus fabric. My third group can be either a focus fabric or a coordinating print.

These two fabrics will make up one of my nine patch blocks along with my gray print center.

I've paired up some more maybe's...Oh and ya that's sun coming though the window!! Always a fun surprise here in the North West!

So when picking out your print fabrics, maybe keep in mind what your focus fabrics are and your coordinating fabrics are.

Also, what feel do you want your quilt to have. My quilt will end up having a warm feel, with the reds, oranges, browns, and yellows. I may end up taking the greens out (not sure yet).

I also like to separate any busyness going on by adding solids...hence my solid gray and solid red. A small print would work too or maybe a batik.

Think about contrast too as your putting your fabrics together. Contrast in color....contrast in prints, but most of all HAVE FUN!!

Now for my solids:

I really love blue these days and want to use blue through out the quilt. I may use it in every block, not sure yet. These are the 3 blues I will use through out.

And these are the solids I'll be putting with my blues along with Charcoal gray for the background.

I might end up using the outside curve blue consistently through out all my blocks, still not sure though.

Basically for my solids I just made sure they all looked good with my blues. And so when I do up my nine patches they'll all go together, that's my plan anyway!

Again...this is all such an individual thing and I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Tomorrow...I want to talk about curves and take the FEAR OUT OF IT, most of all!!

Happy fabric picking and deciding and contemplating!!!

~Jenny~

Urban Nine Patch Quilt Along (design)

2012-01-31T13:53:00.000-08:00

When it comes to picking out fabric for a quilt, it's good to know the quilt design.

I think.... quilt design and fabric selection go hand in hand! Have you ever looked at a quilt and absolutely loved it? Is it because you loved the fabric that was used, or did you love it because of the quilt design?

As you view each design below, think about your fabric selection. Each design gives off a slightly different look, just by changing the dark and light colors.

I've come up with the design.... Now it's your job to come up with fabric selection and the look you want to achieve with it!

Design #1

For this design, notice the continuity of the white curves and the gray background. It really helps your eye focus on the design, even though there are still a lot of other different colors being used.

Weather you choose to used solids or prints for your fabric choice, keep in mind to stay consistent with a couple of fabric selections. For instance all of the same small print fabric for your background or for the curve pieces on the outside of your nine patch.

Design #2

For this design, I replaced the gray background for white. Now your eye tends to look at the skinny curves and the bright colors are showed off too.

So when thinking of fabric selection, keep in mind your dark fabrics to your light fabrics. I like a lot of contrast. As you notice in the diagram, all my nine patches have lots of contrast.

Design #3

In this design, the only white I've used is for the background edges. I even used a gray for my 1/2 square triangles (notice block sample, upper left). The white ovals really pop out and the color seams to blend in with the gray.

Design #4

This is one of my favorites! I love the consistency of all the gray curves and the white background. The nine patches, really pop out in the layout too. Again....I used a gray for the 1/2 square triangles instead of the white background. (sample, upper left of design)

Design #5

This design uses the gray for the outside nine patch curve and a white for the background. When I look at this design, I don't see the circular design as well, but I see the Urban Nine Patch blocks. And the nine patches don't stand out, like in the design before.

Design #6

In this design the Urban Nine Patches are floating. This is done by adding 1-2" strips in between the blocks and a border around the outside of all the blocks.

These designs are all examples made up of 9 blocks. Now this is where you come in and I'm leaving it up to you.

9 blocks (3 across, 3 down)

12 blocks (3 across, 4 down)

16 blocks (4 across, 4 down)

20 blocks (4 across, 5 down)

Each block, finished is a 12" square.

Sample of 12 blocks:

Sample of 12 blocks with strips and borders:

You get the point, right?

And a big thanks to all of you participating, it's more than I ever anticipated! I did a shipment of rulers last Saturday and a shipment yesterday. A few were international orders and so I want to make sure those make it, before I put up the tutorial.

...so in the meantime, think about the designs and the look you want to achieve.

Tomorrow, I will talk about fabric...both solids and prints and share with you some tips on how I, put fabrics together.

And for fabric requirements...well that will depend on how and what design you decide on.

This diagram shows you your fabric requirements per block:

If you would like to put your nine patches together ahead of time, just make sure to use 1/4 seam allowance.

You want your finished nine patches to be a 8 1/2" square.

I will post the tutorial beginning of next week and the Quilt along will go for 12 weeks.

...oh and if you want to show other quilters out there what your working on......

Thanks and remember....tomorrow will be all about fabric!

~Jenny~

"Urban Nine Patch"

2012-01-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

Interested in a curvy quilt along?

Have you bought the Quick Curve Ruler and have not put it to use yet?

Have you been thinking of getting the Quick Curve Ruler?

Maybe the "Urban Nine Patch" will entice you!

The "Urban Nine Patch" Curvy Quilt Along will start next Thursday! I will admit I've never been part of a Quilt Along and would LOVE, first, your participation and second, your suggestions. Leave a comment letting me know you would love to join in and any suggestions for me that has to do with a Quilt Along.

The "Urban Nine Patch" is a great way to use some of your beautiful scraps, prints or solids or maybe you have a fabric line you haven't known what to do with...this would be a great block for that too!

Just imagine, after you've made multiple "Urban Nine Patch" blocks, the design that will be created when sewed together! The finished block will end up being a 12" x 12" square. It won't take many, sewn together, to create an awesome quilt!

It's not to late to order your Quick Curve Ruler so you can join in on the "Urban Nine Patch" Curvy Quilt Along too!

Okay....quilters, let's get our CURVE on!!

Curve Nine Patch Tutorial

2012-01-25T16:27:00.000-08:00

This tutorial show's how to make a curved nine patch using the Quick Curve Ruler:

Nine Patch Block

(1) 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" square (center)

(4) 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" rectangle (middle sides)

(4) 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" square (corners)

Outside curve's:

(4) 8 1/2" x 2" rectangle

Quick Curve Ruler

Assemble pieces for nine patch in order above.

8 1/2" x 8 1/2" square

Place the Quick Curve Ruler over left side of block, making sure to center block between the dotted reference lines and the left edge of block sits under the 2 1/2" mark on the ruler. Make your cut.

Flip block and continue to cut each side of block.

Stack and place the (4) 8 1/2" x 2" rectangles under the ruler, making sure to center in between the dotted reference lines and between the 1" and 3" lines on the ruler. Make your cut.

Discard the fabric on the right.

To view a video tutorial on how to piece curves go to the upper left corner of my blog.

Place the outside curve piece about 1/4 - 1/8 in from corner of nine patch. (you don't have to be exact, since we will be squaring the block up) Sew your curve on, repeat for opposite side of block.

This is a view of the back. I press my seams open for this block to eliminate bulk.

Place the outside curve piece about 1/4 - 1/8 in from corner of nine patch. Sew your curve on, repeat for opposite side of block. Press.

before squared up

Square block to a 8" square, centering as well as you can.

Now you have and 8" Curve Nine Patch Block!

The nine patch will end up floating with in the block.

Tomorrow, I've got a surprise...that will go along with the curve nine patch and maybe even a Curvy Quilt Along!

~Jenny~

Like Mom...Like Daughters!

2012-01-23T10:40:00.000-08:00

I have one ultimate goal in life when it comes to my daughters....and that is to turn them into quilters ;o)

The other day we cleaned up an area downstairs and Brittany and Brooke wanted to use that area for their sewing. They did up a couple of quilts over the weekend and I think they were having fun...he..he.. of course a little nudging from MOM!

This is one of the quilts they did up. We went to our local Joanne store and they bought a little charm pack...cut them in half....sewed them to a white piece of the same size. Originally we were going to have them floating with some white sashing and borders in between...but after they lay ed them out like this, it turned out to be a really cool design.

The girls did a straight wavy line for the quilting.

This is Brittany...first time on the Long Arm! It was really scary for her at first, but she felt more comfortable as she went.

Brooke is quilting a swirly loop....she had to stand on a stool so she could see better and reach the handles better.

They both had fun...they've been asking me for quite a long time if they can use my longarm, so finally we had some time yesterday for them to use it! They were wondering how I could ever get tired of longarming, because it's SO MUCH FUN!!

After we were done quilting, they thought that was it! Oh no... I reminded them about the binding and they didn't think that was necessary and to just cut the quilts off and leave the binding off. Of course I would not let that fly....I reminded them that that's all part of quilting! So we managed to get the one binding done so far.

They are going to hang it up on their wall today!

...oh and I thought this was funny... Brittany told me when she went to bed the other night all she could do was think about her quilts and was excited to work on them the next day. I told her she caught the "quilt bug" and that's what I do ALL THE TIME!

I'm linking up today to Canoe Ridge Creations Sew Modern Monday for the Girls! Good Job girls, I'm so proud of you!

~Jenny, Brittany and Brooke~

Baby Girl Quilt

2012-01-22T15:11:00.000-08:00

Over a year ago, I made these blocks and ended up not using them.

I've always loved the fabrics and color scheme and when I found out my friend Alicia was having a baby girl, I thought these blocks would make a cute baby girl quilt.

I took the basic oval shape, made from my Quick Curve Ruler and put them together by alternating the direction of each block.

I used my homemade pattern for my quilting design.

I used 2 flannels pieced together for the back...I love how soft it makes it for a baby quilt and I used one layer of warm and white for the batting.

...and I was really excited when I found a half yard of this Amy Butler fabric in my stash for the binding I had used in the quilt.

...so what a great idea for a baby quilt, right? So....if you've bought the Quick Curve Ruler and need an idea for a quilt, all you do is make your basic oval block (directions in the free runner pattern) and then alternate them, add a small binding and you now have an original baby quilt!

~Jenny~

Curved Nine Patch

2012-01-21T10:40:00.000-08:00

...don't ask me why I've never thought about doing a curved nine patch with my ruler till yesterday... and if I'm not mistaken you use templates to create a curve nine patch....a template for the corner's and one for the middle side pieces....

...but maybe there is an easier way!

First I started on my design program and made this:

I want my block to end up being and 8" square...this gave me an idea how big to cut my squares and rectangles...

..then I started cutting into the fabric... made a nine patch: a square for the center and corners and rectangles for the side centers.

This is my first block:

...basically I took my ruler, cut out the curve on each side of the block...then cut out my side pieces also with my ruler, sewed them on to the nine patch and ended up with a not so pretty, to small and wasn't able to square it up block....you know how I love to square everything up.

next attempt:

played around with different size squares and rectangles for the nine patch...cut the sides out with my ruler a bit different and then sewed on my curve pieces and ended up really...really...miscalculating! Cut it all off and now I have just a nine patch....major mess up!

last attempt:

Finally!! I calculated the squares and rectangles so my nine patch ends up being 8 1/2" square....which is the smaller size reference curve dimensions on my ruler. This helps me when cutting out my curves for the side of the nine patch so I can line it up perfectly on my ruler. Sew my side curve pieces on to the nine patch and square up to a perfect 8" square!

Now if you could only see how many mishap blocks I have in my "mishap drawer"....some day I'm going to make a "mishap quilt"!

...then of course I went to bed last night dreaming up designs, using the curved nine patch!

~Jenny~

Fabric Envy Giveaway!

2012-01-19T13:21:00.000-08:00

Fabric Envy is doing a fantastic giveaway on her blog!

Welcome to Paris

Enticing!!

Go to Andrea's blog and enter to win!

~Jenny

...and more curves!

2012-01-16T10:31:00.000-08:00

...warning! When visiting my blog, you will be curved attack!! You would think I would get tired of this curve thing, but I'm not! You would think I would run out of designs to do up, I'm not!

I cut the fabric out for this quilt on Saturday night and started putting it together yesterday. It's actually one of the very first designs I came up with and was a no brainer for the curve shape. And finally.... picked the fabric and color scheme I wanted to do for it and it's coming together so easy and it really is a very simple design. But even though it's simple, it will look really cool when I'm done!

I'm sort of in a solid fabric kick right now? Funny how that works out sometimes. Solids really do show designs so well though.

...also, I changed things up a bit for assembling this quilt. I usually piece ALL my blocks first, then iron, then square up, then assemble. This time I'm doing 3 stacks at a time...and then doing another 3 stacks and adding that on to the last. It's fun this way, you get to see how the quilt is coming together as you go!

~Jenny~

Fat Quarterly Designer Challenge

2012-01-14T10:07:00.000-08:00

There's a Design Challenge going on over at Fat Quarterly today and the Challenge is to design a quilt using a curve, using the Quick Curve Ruler! Ya....my ruler!!

Go over and check out the details!!

...and I finished piecing this top last night:

Definitely my favorite so far! It always seems the quilt I'm currently working on is my favorite. This quilt is going to be part of my next series of quilts and I love this design so much I'm doing up a second quilt with these yummy oranges:

I've been collecting oranges for a while now...and seeing how orange is the trendy color this year...well I've got two quilts in the making using oranges.

Don't forget to check out the Designer Challenge over at Fat Quarterly today and if your interested in viewing my free pattern that comes with the purchase of the ruler, please e-mail me, letting me know.

~Jenny~

Friday Night Inspiration!

2012-01-13T18:43:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things to do is look at all the great inspiration out there on the net and here are a few that really popped out at me!

1. Tall Triangle baby quilt - front, 2. 3x6 - Diane {from blank pages...}, 3. Courthouse Steps Quilt Top detail, 4. Vertical Woven Stripes, 5. gluecksrad lieblingsdecke krabbeldecke quilt frankfurt_DSC_3626a, 6. Pillow Swap Reveal!, 7. Saffron Ash, Patchwork Tablerunner, 8. Colour Variegation Quilt, 9. Starry Night Quilt Top Mock Up

Such amazing inspiration, thank you!!

And my sister tested one of my patterns for me and made a fun little runner with the left over blocks.

I love how she quilted it...especially the ribbon candy quilting with the fun little swirl in it!

Wonderful Helen..and thanks for testing one of my patterns for me!

Helen's also a longarm quilter and is really...good as you can see! If your looking for someone to quilt your quilts for you, I definitely recommend her and she's got a pretty quick turnaround time too.

Happy Friday night!

~Jenny~

Quilting...quilting..quilting...!!!!

2012-01-10T11:07:00.000-08:00

Quilting...quilting...quilting...

I dream it ~ I work it ~ I smell it ~ I design it ~ I quilt it ~ I think it ~ I love it ~ I admire it ~ I watch it ~ I hate it ~ I have it ~ I obsess it ~ I blog it ~ I Flikr it ~ I sew it ~ I need it ~

I AM IT ~ !!

Using some scrap fabric....I played a bit with a new design~

I was lucky with this block...because when I went to square it up, it squared up to a perfect 5" x 8" rectangle! It's like it was meant to be!!

...and I sewed on these, which I am completely and utterly excited about it!! By far.... will be my favorite quilt so far!

and the other side of the beautiful stack...

...and I'm quilting up these this week for a couple of customers:

Two custom and an overall design.

...so at times, I really feel like my life is quilting...quilting...quilting.....!!!

Do you ever feel that way?

~Jenny~

Urban Window Pattern

2012-01-05T20:20:00.000-08:00

Yep! That's right! Another pattern!

I really liked how this quilt came together. This quilt was the 2nd quilt I did up using my Quick Curve Ruler. When I did this up, I was really inspired by the quilts that had rectangular blocks that just floated on the fabric. And I like the bold contrast in color on this quilt, the charcoal gray with the bright white and yellow.

I also love applique and want to add touches of it in more of my quilts! My son Taylor designed this bird for me. I think he did a great job with it!

Warning!! If you ever glue binding down using this method,

you may NEVER get to actually stitching it together!

You wouldn't have ever known!! he...he..

~Jenny~

Diamond ~ Milk Glass

2012-01-02T14:02:00.000-08:00

...I'm a sucker for milk glass! Found this for $3 the other day!

...I also figured out how to make a diamond, like the one you see above.

First I made a little freezer paper template, then I taped it to the back of a ruler so the long edge was even with the edge of the ruler.... that way I could use the ruler to draw my lines on the corners of the blocks.

Then you take your rectangle, place opposite corners on each side of the corner block, lining up the drawn line with the side of the rectangle. Sew from one corner to the other.

Cut off, 1/4 inch past stitches, excess fabric.

Iron, you now have one corner of your diamond.

Do 2 the same direction and the other 2, you need to flip your template then follow the same steps.

Maybe there is a better or easier way to do this....but this is what I came up with and it surprisingly works really well!

These blocks are really fun to put together, I actually started them a while ago and they will need to wait a little longer because I have some pretty awesome quilts to quilt up this week for some very talented quilters!

~Jenny~

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T10:04:00.000-08:00

...some pretty neato mosaics on blog land right now!! Love that pressure.....

Happy New Year!

Urban Escape Pattern

2011-12-31T09:33:00.000-08:00

I'm excited to release this pattern today! It's the quilt that started EVERYTHING!

...the quilt that started my idea for the "Quick Curve Ruler"!

I remember posting this quilt on my blog over a year ago and was totally surprised at the response it got. It only took a few ladies, saying they wanted the pattern and I was hooked!

Five moments stand out for me this last year with my quilting and I wanted to share them with you to end the year:

The first was discovering how a simple curve shape could have so many possibilities. I remember I had about 5 freezer template curve shapes I was moving around on top of the lid of my washing machine and how excited I got! I was making designs I had never seen on a quilt.

My second moment was when I came up with the concept of the ruler. I thought...ya I can come up with these great designs with a curve, but know one is going to fussy cut all those curve shapes with templates...I wouldn't! And so it came to me...the ruler and how I should design it, so with the help of a guy named AJ at the ruler company and many e-mails back and fourth and two prototypes later the ruler was made!

My third was learning Adobe Indesign! HOLY COW...that's all I've got to say about that!!

My fourth moment was when Georgia from the Needle and I, our local quilt shop asked me last minute to show my ruler at a Saturday morning class. I was reluctant at first and them thought it was a good start. I was so nervous... anxious... scared... to put my idea out there! It's hard to explain...but I felt safe having the ruler and patterns with me...but as soon as I share them and expose them it was like exposing me and I wasn't sure I was ready for that. Maybe it's a confidence thing...but I did it and at the meeting the ladies were very excited and reassuring that they hadn't seen anything like it and I sold my first rulers! I'll never forget that day!

My fifth is the weekend I launched my Website. My husband was so sick of me trying to perfect everything that he was my ultimate push to the end. I stayed up till about 2 am and Jared woke me up at 5:30am to finish up. I had a longarm meeting at my house that day and felt very rushed...but I launched it that morning even though everything still wasn't quite in place and as ladies were coming for the meeting I was in the bathroom putting on my makeup.....I was excited to share the news with my longarm quilting friends and they were so excited for me. Then all weekend long the orders were trickling in, best Christmas gift I could have asked for!! All the hard work and long hours and tendinitis in my pinkie paid off! And if this is all that comes out of it, it was worth it!

I had an idea, I made it and I can't believe it!

Have a Happy New Year and if you actually read all of this.... well thanks! And again, thank you everyone for all your support this last year, I couldn't have done it with out you!! I've met some amazing quilters through blogging and feel so lucky to have those relationships in my life! I hope to meet you all in person someday!

Thanks!

~Jenny~

Old Yo Yo Quilt Blocks

2011-12-29T10:27:00.000-08:00

My friend gave me these quilt blocks a while ago!! She found them at an estate sale and new they were old, but since she's not a quilter and she knew I was....well.....how lucky am I!!

I have a secret love for old things...from furniture to trinkets to quilts and so needless to say I was ecstatic when she gave these to me!

My sisters and mom also share the same love for old things, especially my sister Sherilyn. She LOVES feed sack material and so it was easy for me to know what I wanted to make her for Christmas this year!

..so I made some pillows...and I love my Longarm for the fact it stitched right through the yo yo's! I used a blue for the binding, because it's fitting for Sherilyn's decor and it's got the feed sack look.

...also if you want to buy some cheap pillow forms, just go to your local ROSS store and buy decor pillows, usually they have some on clearance for really cheap....then you just take the covers off and use them for a reference size, for your new pillow covers.

...only problem with this post, is these pillows are on their way to Florida right now! Good thing my sister doesn't check my blog daily? I think ;o)

~Jenny

Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle

2011-12-28T12:16:00.000-08:00

I'm entering a contest through Quokka Quilts, and all I needed to do to enter was to make a collage of 3 solids and 12 prints through The Fat Quarter Shop! Way to much fun!!

The winner gets 1/2 yard of each of the 3 solids and 12 prints of your choice!! I'm usually not one to enter contests, but I couldn't resist this one!

~Jenny~

Black and White Fever Again!

2011-12-27T11:12:00.000-08:00

...so I've got black and white fever again! I had so much fun doing up this quilt using black and white's and knew I wanted to do another black and white quilt someday....and then it hit me yesterday!! I'm so excited! I've got another design I'm going to do up with black and white fabric....along with cactus green Kona and tangerine Kona.

I've wanted to do a quilt for some time using the tangerine and green together and paired with the black and white I think it's going to really POP and give off the look I want it to! ...and black and whites are so much fun to shop for, still have a few more to find!!

I've also been thinking for sometime now about my Longarm quilting business. I've decided to take on less customer quilts so I can spend more time on my patterns. I wasn't sure I wanted to do this, but I've had such a great response with my ruler and patterns that it has made my decision an easy one. I did both this last year and it nearly wiped me out! I do want to say how much I do enjoy longarm quilting and again......I'm not quitting that entirely, just cutting back. ;o)

Christmas was great and very loud!! I counted 10 remote control devices between my 5 kids and finally at about 10:30 pm Christmas night I said ENOUGH!...oh and clean up yesterday morning was a doozie!!!!

~Jenny~

Some of my Favorite Things!

2011-12-22T11:24:00.000-08:00

...Oh yes, love Black Licorice Caramels! One of my favorite treats during the Holiday's and better yet I do them in the microwave!

My sister Helen gave me this recipe and I'm sharing it today on my blog, and if you don't like black licorice and think you wouldn't like these, well think twice!

Black Licorice Caramels

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 c. sugar

1 c. butter

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. light corn syrup
3/4 tsp. black food coloring paste
3/4 tsp. anise oil (order through a pharmacy or check cake decor section at WalMart)

Stove top directions:
Mix all together but food coloring and anise oil. Cook stirring constantly on medium heat to 235 degrees to 240 degrees. Take off heat. Add oil and food coloring. Spread on bar pan. Let cool. Cut into 1/2" pieces and wrap in wax paper.

Microwave directions:
First melt butter in large Pyrex glass bowl in microwave. Add the rest of the ingredients to the melted butter and mix.
Cook for 5 minutes and stir
Cook for another 5 minutes and stir
Cook for another 7 1/2 minutes stirring every 2 minutes
Add oil and food coloring. Spread on bar pan. Let cool. Cut into 1/2" pieces and wrap in wax paper.

ENJOY!!

Another yummy favorite treat is Mint White Hot Chocolate!

The best White Hot Chocolate you can find at the store!! I get it at Albertson's and you must mix it with milk, not water. Yummier that way! Add a little mint and wala....yummy and way cheaper than Starbucks!

This time of year I'm always on the look out for Glass Ornaments. I started collecting glass ornaments a few years back along with my sister's, sister-n-law and mom. We got the idea from my Aunt who has the coolest Christmas tree with hundreds of glass ornaments on it!

These are a few of my favorites!

...also picked up one of my favorite Decor Magazines yesterday!

The inspiration is endless!!!

.....and last but not least I spent time with my favorite person last night! My husband! We packaged some quilt patterns!! My husband has been so supportive and I love him so much!!

~Jenny~

Quilted Stockings!

2011-12-20T11:13:00.000-08:00

Made new stockings on Sunday and finished them up last night!! I'm pretty pleased with them....I've never been happy with my ability to quilt up letters, so the cuffs aren't my favorite, but I can always change them down the road. For now it works and my kids like them ;o)

I only have time to post pictures today....no details, to much last minute quilts to do, but I think the pictures explain what I did and how I did it....pretty well......

I got this quilting idea from Judi, with Green Fairy Quilts....thanks Judi!

Very BRIGHT...but fun. I did up the green ones for the boys and let them pick their favorite and the girls picked out there design before I quilted them up. Still haven't had a chance to quilt up my Christmas quilt...but maybe that will be my Christmas Eve activity.

~Jenny~

Patterns...Urban Beads and Urban Candy

2011-12-17T10:32:00.000-08:00

Two more patterns for my Website today!

Urban Beads

...and

Urban Candy

A few more pictures:

First time showing my Urban Candy quilt all done and quilted up!

This quilt was the 2nd quilt I designed. I've always loved this quilt. My original name for it was Ribbon Candy, but going with the "Urban" theme, changed the name to Urban Candy. The fabric was from Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush, in fact I did a little crushing on Anna at Quilt Market last Spring.

These patterns are now available at sewkindofwonderful.com.

...and for the Give Away Game results:

I'm actually giving away 2 PDF patterns one to Susan who is the only one that mentioned my Urban Candy quilt:

SoozeM:

I am going for Urban Winter, I just love that quilt!! I would love to see more of Ribbon Candy too!!

...and out of 16 who said Urban Beads the number generator chose #8!

GailM:

ok. I'm searching and reading through your blog. Wonderful!! So I guess it's Urban Pods... or Urban Beads.

Congrats! And thanks again for all your support!!

~Jenny~

A little Christmas Inspiration!

2011-12-16T10:13:00.000-08:00

A little Christmas Inspiration!

1. Christmas tree skirt progress - 4, 2. Saavy Season's Swap goodies, 3. A Charlie Brown-ish Christmas tree, 4. Christmas gift pillow, 5. Christmas mini quilt, 6. Improv Christmas Wallhanging, 7. christmas mini quilt., 8. Santa close up, 9. ruby strings

...and for the home

1. Studio Space, 2. Vintage Bulbs, 3. wreath, 4. C H R I S T M A S . B R A N C H E S, 5. DSC01490, 6. vintage christmas balls, 7. paperwhites, 8. Christmas Decorations, 9. christmas palladian

and I hope to quilt this up this weekend....along with making black licorice caramels!!

...and I accidentally through my stockings away....he..he..guess I'll have to make some new stockings. Brittany and I are doing that for sure on Sunday. I'm kind of excited about that. I'm going to just load all my fabric on the longarm and draw out my stockings and quilt them all different. I'll take pictures as I go. Hope my plan works.

...also my hand is so much better....amazing what a little medication can do!!

..and if you haven't played the give away game, you can do it here!

~Jenny~

THANKS!! ...and a little GIVE AWAY GAME!!

2011-12-15T10:47:00.000-08:00

...wow what a week it has been!! First off I wanted to say a big THANKS to every one's support with my ruler and patterns. I was a little surprised this last weekend. Oh.... but it was so much fun!! My kids had fun too! "Mom have you got another order?.....let me check....yep 2 more!!" Way to much fun! So THANKS again!! I hope you enjoy the ruler and have fun with it!

Along with launching my Website...I've learned a lot along the way. From shipping....to packaging....pay pal....international shipping....picking the right printing company.....!!!! (Had a hick up with that this week!)

...and this is what my kitchen table has looked like all week:

...also need to do a bit of organizing

....and it seems I've over done it with my right pinkie!

My pinkie has been hurting for a while, not to bad though, but the last few days it got really swollen and hurt like a really bad tooth ache in my pinkie? So...went to the Doc and found out it's tendinitis?? Apparently I'm using it to much in a repetitive way... and to stop using it! Really? How am I to do that? ;o(

~and~

I'm releasing 2 more patterns this weekend!

Now for the game! If you can guess at least one of the 2 quilts I'm releasing this weekend you will be entered into a drawing to win a free PDF download of any one of my patterns.

All you need to do is leave a comment as to which quilt or quilts you might think it is or a description of the quilt.

That's it!

I'll announce the winner Saturday morning.

Have fun! I hope you play along!

~Jenny~

The Big Day is Finally Here!

2011-12-10T09:00:00.001-08:00

I'm happy to announce that my Website is up and my Quick Curve Ruler is up for sell along with Urban Birthday and Urban Abacus. Finally!! I never thought this day would come!!

Andrea with Fabric Envy did such a great job photographing my quilts!

Here are a couple more pictures:

And yes...I did up a Video Tutorial on my Quick Curve Ruler. It's on my left side bar. It shows you how to cut, piece and square up your curves.

More patterns to come!!

Check my Website out and let me know what you think!

~Jenny~

Update on Video....It's up now!! And thanks so much for the positive comments! It's so scary and exciting for me....getting all this going! Just finished up with a Longarm quilting meeting here at my house and had such a great time!! I have such a supportive, local group of quilting ladies and they were so excited for me!

Sold some rulers too!!

~Jenny

Yummy fabric and a video attempt!

2011-12-08T15:49:00.001-08:00

...so I got this yummy fabric Be Spoken in Fresh by Pat Pravo yesterday from Fabric Envy....along with my quilt pictures, which by the way turned out fantastic! I'm so pleased with them! Andrea from Fabric Envy took pictures of all my quilts a couple of weeks ago. She did such a great job!!

I've had a pattern in mind for some time now for fun fabrics like these!! I think the pattern will really showcase the fabrics! One of my January quilts ;o)

...and then there is me and my husbands attempt to do up a video!!

Our first attempt was last weekend. Ugh!!! I'm so glad I didn't go into the filming business!

...so we are attempting again! We even have some professional lighting going on ;o)...j.k.

Wish us luck!!

~Jenny~

Wavy borders...please stop waving at me!!

2011-12-03T21:08:00.001-08:00

About a year ago....I posted about this, maybe it's the time of year and with quilt deadlines for the holiday's, I'm a bit frustrated with borders constantly waving at me, it really slows everything up....anyway I'm posting it again!

A subject I think is really important! How to apply a border or borders to a quilt.

For years I use to sew my borders on to my quilt by starting on the top and sewing down to the edge of the quilt and then just cutting off the remaining.

Then I became a longarm quilter and found out that by doing that can possibly create some wonky quilts and wavy borders. Here are some simple directions on how to apply borders.

Directions for applying borders:

Determine the length of the quilt border by averaging the two or three center measurements of the quilt body.
Cut two borders that length and pin them to opposite sides of the quilt. Match the ends and centers, then gently ease in any fullness.
Pin, sew, and press
Repeat for the top and bottom borders.

We longarmers come across this often when quilting for others. I think that some quilters are just unaware of how to apply borders and how it affects the squareness of the quilt and the difficulty it can be to quilt it.

It really is a simple thing that can make such a huge difference. Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you have any comments on the subject feel free to share...

~Jenny~

Christmas Fabric

2011-12-03T09:11:00.001-08:00

I saw this fabric on Nicke's blog the other day and definitely had to get some of it myself! Joann's...50% off!! And check out the cute little containers that match it, also 50% off! Every year I make Black Licorice Caramels for friends and family and thought this container would be perfect to put them in and...with the fabric I thought of making some mug rugs to go with.

The caramels are to die for....if you like black licorice. I'll share that recipe, when I make them and blog about them.

...also....thanks so much for the volunteer testers for upcoming patterns! 14 to be exact! If anyone knows me they know I'm a bit of a competitor, that might be growing up with 2 brothers just older than me..... always pushing me to do things beyond my limits! So....with 14 testers, happily volunteering......well, lets just say....GAME ON!! Quilt patterns....here I come!

~Jenny~

Quick Curve Ruler

2011-11-30T10:28:00.001-08:00

I wanted to fill any inquiring minds as to what's up with my "Quick Curve Ruler" and patterns.

First off....I wanted to say a big THANKS to all the sweet comments on all my quilts. It's been so encouraging and has helped me to continue forward with my ruler and patterns. It's been a year since I started this endeavor. Juggling family, home, church and a longarm quilting business has been quite difficult while trying to squeeze the time in for my patterns, but I feel like I'm finally seeing an end, to this part of it anyway.

My website www.sewkindofwonderful.com will be up in a couple of weeks. I'm currently designing the pattern covers and I have some pretty awesome quilters out there testing my patterns. My ruler will be available along with the free runner pattern and quilt patterns that have been tested and approved. All my patterns will be available in paper or pdf. ...so if you wanted to purchase my ruler...just know more patterns will be available in pdf with in the next month.

Just a couple of days ago I got an e-mail from Krista, she contacted me a while ago offering to test for me, so when the time came, I took her up on that! She wanted to practice on the runner pattern before starting the quilt pattern I gave her to test and e-mailed me a picture of it....which looks absolutely wonderful!

She ended up reversing the solid with the print. I really like the print in the background!

...and she had this to say:

I LOVE IT! Before my husband even saw my results, just going off of my enthusiasm, he said, "I hope she is ready to be a millionaire!"

...and this:

Basically - I love it, I don't know how you came up with it, but I'm glad you did.

...and this:

The Quick Curve Ruler was VERY easy to use. I LOVE your patterns. They are extremely easy to read and comprehend.

...so needless to say that totally made my day!!

Thanks so much Krista!!

I just wanted to let you know what was up and thanks again to those of you inquiring....it makes it all worth it!!

p.s. I've got about 4 more that will need testing in January ;o) !! hint...hint!!

~Jenny~

Christmas Quilt

2011-11-28T11:46:00.001-08:00

..one of my favorite days of the week is Sunday. After we get home from church, my husband and oldest son watch some football and my other kids entertain themselves with games or a movie and I sneak away and get to do some piecing.

...so yesterday I pieced this together!

It's going to be my little Christmas wall hanging. Notice how flat and perfect my blocks are....well it's because....I square them all up to perfect rectangles....of course using my "Quick Curve Ruler"!!

And what do you get....when you square up your blocks?

A beautiful bowl of scraps!

~Jenny~

My Quilts on Pinterest!

2011-11-26T12:41:00.001-08:00

...so do you ever check your stats on your blog...

I do!

I love to see who and where and what is looking at my posts. And I quite often see Pinterest pop up. Who would have ever thought....

This quilt picture is floating out there right now:

and this one:

and if you go here you can see many..many more quilt pictures that have been re-pinned, my quilts and customer quilts.

Kinda fun!!

~Jenny~

Quilting Obsessed!

2011-11-23T12:08:00.001-08:00

...you know your obsessed about quilting when you fit in 45 minutes of cutting to make a new Christmas quilt!!

Like I have nothing else to do... ;o)

...and yes I did say 45 minutes....if that!! Could you imagine cutting all these curves out using templates... HECKA NO!!

"Quick Curve Ruler"...coming soon...!! ;o)

~Jenny~

Quilt Photography

2011-11-18T10:41:00.001-08:00

...so I've been thinking about quilt photography a lot lately. Mainly since I'm at that point for my pattern covers.

First off, I tried taking pictures of my quilts on my own. Ugh!!! That did not work! Then I thought I'd have my Father-n-law help me. He has a nice camera and a couple of good lights. That went okay. I just don't have the heart to tell him I'm not using those photos. But I did enjoy our time together ;o).

Now...here's where I get excited! I went to my friend Andrea's house yesterday. She is a professional photographer...but I had no idea to what extent. Can I just say WOW!!! She had this amazing studio....with these amazing lights and a whole system set up that totally intrigued me! All the different equipment with this gadget and that gadget.

After we got things set up, she took the first photo shot....and she said "jenny i think your gonna like these"...when I saw the shot on her camera I was completely astounded at how professional they looked. EXACTLY the look I want!! It was like looking at my quilt on the cover of a magazine!

I'm so giddy and excited about them I can't stand it! Andrea did such a good job!

So my inspiration today is on quilt photography. These are a few that caught my eye on Flikr!

1. Nicey Jane Hello Sunshine #5 edited, 2. Saturday Sew-in preparations., 3. Embellished Patchwork Quilt sitting in the yard, 4. the forever quilt beginning, 5. Fish Baby Log Cabin class sample, 6. a quilt for harry., 7. http://beaspokequilts.blogspot.com/2011/11/parting-ways.html, 8. black and white quilt 1, 9. modern log cabin #2

Thanks for the great photos and inspiration!!

And again...thanks Andrea!!

~Jenny~

Fabric Envy...new online shop!

2011-11-16T10:38:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow I'm so excited! I'm going over to Andrea's to have some professional pictures taken of my quilts for the pattern covers.

Andrea's a great photographer and a big time doer!! She has 4 children one being a newborn and just opened an online fabric shop this last weekend called Fabric Envy!

You can find fabric from Tula Pink... Pat Bravo...Anna Maria Horner and many more designers on her website. She also carries patterns and notions! And the best part....for me anyway, is that shes only a few neighborhoods away!! Go check it out! I promise, you won't be disappointed and can't wait for picture day tomorrow!

~Jenny~

Girls new room and play test day!

2011-11-15T16:40:00.001-08:00

Over the weekend the girls and I painted their room, painted some frames, painted some trim, hung up new curtains and made it feel girly! The girls and I did up their quilt about a year ago! It was fun and they love their room now!

Today Sharon, Pam, Kay and I got together at the Needle and I to test a few of my patterns. I tried to let them do their thing. It was hard not to step in and I kept reminding them to read the pattern ;o)

Kay is getting ready to cut her fabric and then piecing her curves together! She was a pro after only the 1st one!

Pam and Sharon! Sharon was piecing like a pro too!!

The fabrics Sharon picked are yummy Hawaiian prints!

Like I said Sharon was piecing her curves really fast! Look at that

chain!

And then there's Pam! She had no problem cutting hers out....but when it came to layout design, well lets just say Pam is a free spirit!! She likes her rules, which is no rules! Pattern? What pattern? And that's why I like her! Perfect person to test my patterns!

It was great and thanks so much ladies for the great day and for helping me out!

~Jenny

Free ruler pattern

2011-11-12T21:42:00.001-08:00

Well it's late on a Saturday night and finally have a second to sit down and tell you a bit about today.

I ended up teaching a class last minute today on my ruler and patterns! First one and first time showing the ruler to anyone other than family and friends and then demoing it.

This little runner is going to be free with the purchase of the ruler and unfortunately that is all I had today....my rulers and the free pattern.

Like I said it was last minute. Georgia owns the Needle and I and has been so kind and supportive this last year with me and my patterns. I just happened to call the shop a couple of day's ago and that's when she asked if I wanted to show my ruler. I almost said no. But new I had to start somewhere. Right?

The ladies were so great and they loved it! I showed how I cut the curve pieces and then I showed them how I sew them and then I showed them how I square them up! And yes I had my first sells!! And there you have it!

Oh and I was so...so... glad someone didn't say "oh I've seen something like that before, didn't so and so have the same concept"? Few.....that DID NOT happen...my biggest worry. ;o)

It was a great start!!!!!

And my dearsest quilting friends and I are getting together at the quilt shop to play and test my patterns this week. It should be fun and I'm finally seeing an end to this MADNESS!

~Jenny~

Inspiration Friday ~ Yellow/Aqua/Turquoise ~ Love

2011-11-04T10:05:00.000-07:00

I love the color Yellow! It's been my favorite color ever since I was a little girl. In fact my wedding colors were butter yellow and Clinique green...you know the Clinique make up. I was really into that make up back in 1995 ;o)

I love yellow with aqua/turquoise! And I will have to say had a tough time finding some inspirational pictures out there! But this is what I found.

1. Happy*Kitchen, 2. a new old chair, 3. Spring Blossom With Humming Bird, 4. Secret Garden. Framed Art, 5. Golden B, 6. for a tomboy, 7. Thrifted Dishware, 8. wythe blue room in spring, 9. wythe blue room today

Now for some quilts....and again I had to dig deep to find any quilts with this color combination.

1. The Cirton Flower Pillow, 2. you, me and the ocean quilt., 3. plus quilt, 4. Plus Cushion, 5. [3x6] Sampler Quilt Mini Bee - 2nd Quarter, 6. Birdhouse pillow, 7. Tea Garden Star Quilt, 8. Bike Quilt, 9. 4x5 Bee Block - Kati

Remember this:

..well with that design and these colors:

I have done up a couple of blocks and will have to say that this, by far.... is going to be my favorite quilt using my "Quick Curve Ruler"! I have the blocks stuck to my design wall....so every time I walk into my quilt room I look at them and it puts a big smile on my face!

Thanks for the great inspirations out there!

~Jenny~

Glue ~ Binding Tip

2011-11-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

Finally....took this off my machine yesterday! Once again....wasn't sure about the quilting, but when I had it draped over my chair and saw it in the natural light I loved how it turned out! I couldn't resist and had to take a picture ;o)

I do have a bit of snipping to do on the back though ;o(

And of course the binding to finish up!

...now for the glue ~ binding tip!!!!

My sister told me about this about a week ago, and after finishing up Sharon's quilt yesterday, thought I'd try it out.

Sharon wanted me to do the binding on her quilt. I always attach the binding to the front of the quilt while the quilt is still on my longarm, then I after I take the quilt off, I press it with an iron on the top and then press it over to the back. This helps me, when stitching in the ditch on the top to catch the back. But this time I put just a little strip of glue on the back before pressing the binding. The binding adhered to the glue and completely stayed down for me! As you can see in the picture above.

The glue washes out, but you couldn't even tell it was under the binding at all. I just used a really thin strip. When I stitched the binding down, it was so slick! I'm definitely doing this for now on!! I love new discoveries to make things just a bit easier! Thanks sister!

~Jenny~

Urban Abacus

2011-10-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

Today I'm sharing with you my "Urban Abacus" quilt for the Bloggers' Quilt Festival. This quilt is my own design and I've had it done for some time now. I will have a pattern for it soon, along with a ruler I've designed called the "Quick Curve Ruler". This is one of many designs I have that will coincide with my ruler and I'm excited to share this quilt with you today!

My idea for this quilt was to show case the black and white fabrics. I think sometimes black and white fabric get's lost in so many quilts and you don't get to enjoy the print. I love black and white with aqua blue!

The quilting was also done by me. I'm a professional longarm quilter and love what I do! I especially love...love...to quilt on my own quilts when I get a chance!

I've enjoyed looking through all the quilts for the show and love how we can all share our quilts with each other! Thanks so much for making this happen Amy! I look forward to it!

New Blog Header

2011-10-30T15:43:00.000-07:00

As you can see I made me a new blog header. I've wanted a new one for sometime now and have been inspired by some pretty great ones out there.

So this is what I came up with!

The design reflects my very first quilt I designed using "curves" and then was inspired to make a ruler....the "Quick Curve Ruler". The colors also reflect that first quilt.

So there you have it...my new blog header. My husband wasn't to in to it when he first saw it. But then he changed his mind. Not sure if it was that he was trying to please me or he didn't really care?

I also stretched my posting space wider so I could show bigger pictures...thanks to Nicke, her Kiss Kiss Quilt blog and her little insight on how to make the space bigger. She's also got a darling header...which was also very inspiring.

One of many things I can check off my list!!

Yea!!

~Jenny~

Burned out!

2011-10-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

I think I'm finally burned out with my quilts. Knowing I've got to get back to customer quilts on Tuesday really pushed me hard to get some much needed tops done. I've been able to quilt, bind and add hanging sleeves to all of them. My right hand is sore from all the hand binding! This quilt is the last one I really needed get done.

...but I'm really struggling to get it done. It's been on my machine for a couple of days and I've dinked around on computer stuff and anything else to avoid it.

This quilt is the second quilt I did up for my designs....oh let's say MONTHS ago!! The little bird was designed by my 14 yr. old. I do love applique and hope to use it in more of my quilts, but this is the only one so far?

Better get to it!!

~Jenny~

Birthday Cake Guilt!

2011-10-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

...so Tuesday was Toby's 5th Birthday, we planned on going out to eat with Grandma and Grandpa at the China Buffet. Toby was so excited and knew he had to wait all day to go, then we could come back afterwards and open presents.

...so I always...always...make a Birthday Cake and for some crazy reason, justified in my head that Toby would be fine...we were eating out at an all you can eat food...ice cream....cake....I knew we would all be stuffed and the last thing we would want to eat when we got back was CAKE.

....so, yes I did feel a bit guilty all day long and didn't do anything about it, I assumed everything would be fine and the guilt would go away.

....so we went out to eat and totally stuffed ourselves. Came back, sang Happy Birthday (without a cake) ;o( Then opened presents.

...so everything was going well. Toby opened all his presents and was playing with them. The GUILT was getting better at this point.

until....... Toby came from the kitchen to the family room and said "MOM WHERE IS MY CAKE" !!

Oh my gosh the guilt was on me like a ton of bricks! Okay....I'm not perfect and told Toby I would make him a cake tomorrow. (thinking he would forget)...I know it's getting worse, I can't believe I'm sharing this with anyone reading, but it is what it is, and I'm sure we've all had those guilt mom moments...right?

....so came the next morning and I figured my 5 yr. old would forget the whole cake incident and my guilt would slowly go away and life would get back to normal.

Uhmmmm......no.......Toby got in to my cake cupboard and pulled out a chocolate cake, a white cake, a strawberry cake, and a lemon cake, then carried them with him through out the day reminding me to make his cake.

Well his birthday was Tuesday and Today is Friday and I carried that guilt with me for 4 DAYS!! Bad mom!!

Needless to say Toby was totally excited when he saw I was actually making cupcakes for him today!!

Guilt feeling a little bit better ;o)

Love you Toby and so..so..sorry!!

Finished Quilt

2011-10-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

Finished the binding on this quilt this morning!

I used double warm and white batting. In all the gray area's and prints I used a variegated gray and white thread and in the tan area's I used a bone colored thread.

It's really heavily quilted!!

....and my dearest Toby who is 5 cranked the wheel to my Longarm quilting machine really...really... tight....well.... I didn't know about it until I went to advance to the next row! I couldn't believe how tight my quilt was. So what happened, is it created a bit of a ripple and some yucky pleats on the back....yes pleats and NO I'm not picking out! I'm completely fine with it....it's my own quilt. ;o)

I'm so glad I finished this quilt up! It was long over due! This will be on the cover of a pattern along with this quilt.

Hope everyone has a great day! It's sunny here in the Northwest today!

~Jenny~

Moving Along...

2011-10-25T11:51:00.000-07:00

I posted about this quilt a while back here.

I'm finally quilting it up!

I'm kicking myself for doing some pretty intense custom quilting on it....

The quilting is giving the quilt a bit more of something though. I always felt it was a little to blahhh....

anyway....I've got two more on my pile to quilt up, then I can finally get some professional pictures taken of my quilts! Yea!

~Jenny~

Pleasantly Surprised!

2011-10-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

...okay, so you all were right, thanks so much for the reassurance on this quilt! When I took it off my machine yesterday and brought it up stairs to lay out, my family and I all agreed it looked like a bamboo blind ;o)....very organic. I'm completely amazed at how the quilting really gave this quilt a completely different look of it's own and YES....I love it!

This was a pattern I wasn't sure I was going to do up...but now I've quilted it and bound it, I do love it and will write up a pattern for it soon. Speaking of my patterns and ruler...I'm hoping I'll get my website up real soon, just waiting for some testing to be done and working on my web page!

Thanks so much for all your nice comments! It's what really keeps me moving forward with my patterns.

Thank you! Thank you!!

~Jenny~

Uhmmmm.....???

2011-10-21T16:25:00.000-07:00

Sometimes what I see in my head doesn't quite translate on to the quilt.

Was I just tired of custom quilting? and no...I'm not on anything right now ;o) Uhmmmm......???

O well, at least it's my own quilt...

Definitely not picking this out!!

~Jenny~

Urban Pods

2011-10-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

...so can I just say how much fun I'm having quilting up some of my quilts with no guilt attached! I loaded my "Urban Pods" quilt yesterday.

I've had this quilt pieced for some time and never really LOVED it....so yesterday I put a border on the top and bottom which helped and now that I'm quilting it up....I'm liking it so much more!!

One of my favorite blogs, is Judi's, from Green Fairy Quilts. I met her in Salt Lake at Spring Market. She is so..so..sweet and cute as can be! She is an amazing quilter and pattern maker and I admire her work! I saw these oblong pebbles on a quilt she's working on the other day....thanks so much for the inspiration Judi!

~Jenny~

Homemade Pattern

2011-10-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to make this pattern for a while now and finally have a couple of weeks to do some much needed stuff for my quilts and patterns.

Using a piece of corrugated wood molding strip, I made this pantograph. I thought it the perfect pattern for my "Urban Birthday" quilt.

Now for the binding!!

~Jenny~

The Versatile Blogger

2011-10-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back....Staci, from "The Confused Quilter" passed along this award to me. I was attracted to her blog the very moment I saw it! Yellow is one of my favorite colors. If you haven't checked her blog out yet, be sure to, very fun style she has! We must have similar taste in fabric too!

Thanks Staci for including me on your list! I think it's fun discovering new blogs and finding new inspiration! Would love for you to check out the list of blogs that have inspired me and are fun to read!

...now the award says I must tell you 7 things about me.... well if you really want to know ;o)

1 ~ I grew up hunting and fishing and was shocked to find out my husband had never gutted a fish out when I was engaged to him.

2 ~ Oh but I love him so..so.. much! Our first date was stand up jet skiing and to this day I still love to jet ski!

3 ~ I'm in love with Marcia McClure novels. They are sappy and clean love chick-books.

4 ~ I use to be 5' 8" before I had kids. ;o( now...5' 7 1/2" !! How does that happen??

5 ~ I love unique candy!!!!

6 ~ You wouldn't know it but I'm pretty tough. I always think I should have been born 150 years ago, during the pioneer day's.

My list of blogs:

1. Ugly Quilts Live Here

2. Crooked Seams

3. Krista Stitched

4. The Undercover Crafter

5. Piece and Press

6. I Plead Quilty

7. The Girl who Quilts

8. Hello, my name is Quilt

9. Feisty Eily

10. She can Quilt

Have a great week!! I'm off to quilting up one of my own quilts! Yea!!

~Jenny~

A little gift

2011-10-13T09:32:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine is under the weather and hasn't been feeling so great. I wanted to make something for her to cheer her up a bit.

The little bird fabric is "MammaBirds" by Valori Wells. It reminded my of my friend and thought it a perfect fit for this block. This is a new design I've wanted to play around with. If you can imagine....many of these blocks put together, that would make for cool quilt.

I gave her the little runner yesterday and it made her smile. She's such a good friend...... hope she feels better real soon!!

~Jenny~

Orange Poppies

2011-10-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with this fabric the first time I saw it at Quilt Market last spring!

This awesome orange poppies fabric is "Gallery Fiori" by Karen Tusinski.

It was the one fabric I totally fell in love with at Quilt Market. As you can see I had to take a picture of it while I was there.

....although I'll have to say that I'm not in love with the other color ways or the other coordinating fabrics, but I LOVE this one and to my surprise, one of my local fabric stores had just got it in!! I absolutely couldn't resist! Just a yard ;o) .....I'm all ready dreaming up something fun for it! I love how fabric can inspire!!

~Jenny~

Quilt Guild

2011-10-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

Every 2 months a group of us quilters....longarm or home machines quilters get together and talk business and quilting. It's usually a small group of us and we alternate the use of our homes to hold the meetings. I had such a good time today! We always have a show-n-tell and had some goodies today!

This is Jo Ann's quilt "American Woman"!!

How cool is that quilt! She has a Statler Stitcher and designed this quilt digitally. It's layered applique all done up on her computerized longarm quilt machine. It's really quite amazing close up. I'm still in amazement!! She entered it in the Northwest Expo and won a ribbon for it. I'm thinking were going to see this around much...much...more!

This is one of Cindy's customer quilts. How lovely is that! It's an old quilt that had been all hand pieced. Cindy did an amazing job on it. Perfect type of quilting for this quilt! Her customer is going to be very pleased!!

I showed a couple of my quilts, "Urban Beads" and "Urban Candy" and they were all very encouraging!

I had such a great time, just what I needed to break up a big and busy work week!

~Jenny~

I have a problem!

2011-10-07T10:39:00.000-07:00

....so I have a problem...It's something I've had my whole life and that is.... I get hung up on things. I can't let them go, I won't let them go until I.... do it....get it...make it....have it!!!

It drives me nuts sometimes and it's really hard to stay focused!

This week I've been hung up on a new design. I've got so many designs floating around in my head, but I saw this design in a magazine the other day at work, came home, cut out some scrap fabric and made it.

I love the secondary design that is created in the middle!

It's on my design wall now and I can't get it out of my head! It's driving me nuts!! I've been wracking my brain as to what fabric to use for this design and really like the hopes of using these 3 solids.

There is one more..."something" I'm going to add to the design...but I'll keep that a surprise!

So there you have it, one of my "problems"! I hate that I do that, but it's just what I do!

For now...I'll keep thinking and thinking about it....and for sure, can't do the quilt up with so much to do! he..he..he..

~Jenny~

Sunday fun and a big week ahead!

2011-10-03T10:22:00.000-07:00

First off thanks so much for the nice comments on my last post. Again....I love what I do and am so privileged to meet some of the nicest and kindest and most talented quilting ladies!

I take Sunday's off from most everything and sometimes use that time to play with my fabric! So with the help of a couple of daughters helping me cut and iron and sew and arrange....we came up with this:

...again I had something else in mind for this "Sugar Pop" layer cake and once I got all the blocks done and after laying them out, it just wasn't right. So with the help of my 12 year old we came up with this. I like it much better. It was fast to cut out and square up and went together quite easy...again with some great help!

....oh and yes another pattern to write up??

This week I'm overloaded with the last of some quilts I was suppose to get done by the end of September. I was hoping to take this whole month off to do my patterns but I'm afraid it's going to be cut a week short. That's okay...I'll just have to work double time!

This quilt is Yolanda's. It's a fantastic quilt!! I met her through Flikr....she requested modern quilting which I hardly ever get that request. It's pretty traditional here in Washington (north of Seattle anyway). It's coming along....hoping to finish it today!

I'm using a ice blue thread and a charcoal thread in the black.

Warm and white for the batting.

Must get to it!!

~Jenny~