Finishing Your Holiday Pillow

Pillow Swap
@SAMQG Holiday Party 2014

As you may know, we are having a rockin' awesome Pillow Swap at our Holiday Party this December.

Are you designing?
Have you tried out a new technique?
Will it be quilted, embellished or home dec fabric?
Have you browsed the Pillow Talk Swap* groups over on flickr for inspiration?

There's loads to consider for your modern pillow design.  One thing we'd like to help you out with is the "finishing" of your pillow.

Of course you can sew your pillow closed after you place the fluffly pillow insert into the design, but there are other options, too.

One of our members, Erin S, has a great blog tutorial for applying an invisible zipper in your pillow design.  Check out one of the best invisible zipper tutorials on the web, HERE.  This zipper can be applied to any shape pillow.

If zippers aren't your thing, you can try an envelope closure, where two pieces of fabric overlap on the back side of a traditional rectangle shaped pillow.   Check out the envelope closure technique, HERE, from ReannaLily Designs.

There are still many other ways to finish your pillow: button closures, ties, decorative closures, center applied zippers, etc.  

We cannot wait to see what you make!  

*Our swap is NOT part of the flickr group swap.  That link is provided for inspiration.

Body Bag Class

If you dared travel up to Borne through the Interstate 10 closures on Saturday, October 18^th, then you were treated to an intimate class of dedicated and determined bag makers. Joanna Marsh, pattern designer and teacher, treated her students to Bear Moon Bakery pastries and to a class full of new techniques including two different zipper installations.

Her pattern is for The Body Bag Duffle (#bodybagduffle), a bag big enough to fit a body. A fact participant Regan Peters verified when her 50lb son put her seahorse bag to the test.

Because it was an intimate class, participants were able to work at a pace that was comfortable for them as Joanna wandered around offering one-on-one help. Though the participants would like to claim that this was truly an advanced bag making class, the fact remains that beginners and experts alike left the class with new ideas, skills, and a fabulous bag that can easily haul whatever you just can’t bear to be without.

SAMQG Bunting Banner

Oh my gosh, how great is our SAMQG Bunting banner?  

I love it.  I love that it is the longest banner I've ever seen... ever.  

The banner was made as a BOM, a short while back.  Kits were provided and each member made one or two of the triangles.  The banner was then finished off with the pink ribbon/bias.  

Click on the images to enlarge.

October 2014 Demo Days - Improv Piecing

October 2014 SAMQG meeting was "Demo Days" in a round robin style where there were 4 stations set up and 4 guild members each demo'd a technique or style or method used in their quilt-making.

Jordan shared her methods and tricks for basic improv piecing. 

Click the images to see them larger.

Hi Jordan!  This is Jordan, holding an improv quilt she made.  She pointed out that the blocks go together fast and mostly from assorted scraps.  You are just one 40% off coupon away from loads of negative space in your quilt design.

In this picture, above, she's showing us that her stash is sorted into sizes.  Big scraps, Medium scraps and smalls.  Very smart system because in improv piecing you'll need to be able to match a random size side length or at least be able to build a piece long enough.  Personally, I have to say one of the most interesting fundamental parts is how she sorts all those scraps.

This block is an improv pieced block.  It is not wonky.  It just is improvisational in that it didn't have a starting plan other than to sew scraps together.  Every scrap in the orange piece was used in a previous quilt, which is why this block is very tidy and organized or, as it has been said "The Stepford Wife block of Improv Piecing"  

The two photos above are a bit more improvised  and unstructured.

Below:  Jordan also did a quick demo of improvised curve piecing.  Now that was all-kinds-of cool.

Take two pieces of fabric. Lay them on top of each other, with BOTH right sides of fabric facing up towards you.

Cut a gentle curve.

Fold one fabric onto the other fabric and start joining the curve. 

The two pieces will appear to not match, as one is a convex curve and the other is concave.  You know, they really do match, though, because you just cut this curve shape through both layers.

Take your time and work the fabric to stitch around the curve.  I'm sure basic curved piecing strategies are already showcased on Youtube.

And here's the finished gentle curve.  This piece is ready to hit the ironing board and be worked into a larger design.  

Ready. Set. Go.

Thanks for the improv tutorial, Jordan!

October 2014 Demo Days - Glue Basting

October 2014 SAMQG meeting was "Demo Days" in a round robin style where there were 4 stations set up and 4 guild members each demo'd a technique or style or method used in their quilt-making.

Glue Basting for everyone!  Thanks so much to Christine, who showed us how to glue baste our seams for more speed and accuracy.

This is the super-expensive, hard-to-find, elusive, magical quilting tool needed for the Glue Basting technique. (*sarcasm implied*)  Glue.  White Elmer's School Glue.

Christine does recommend using a fine-tip from Sharon Schamber's shop online.

Let me appolgize in advance for not having the best pictures from this Demo station.  She really did a great job and I didn't document it as well.  SORRY!!

Ok, so in this picture (or more accurately NOT in this picture)  Christine had added a small bead of glue within the seam allowance of one square.

Once the glue is applied, you add the second piece of fabric, right sides together, just as if you were getting ready to add in pins.  Instead of pins, however, you line up your edges and hit that glue with a hot iron.  

The glue becomes every-so-slightly stiff and your two squares are joined.  (She's holding the joined pair up, right outside the camera's frame in the photo above.  Dangit.)

Because fabric can shift a tiny bit when pinned, glue keeps the pieces ridiculously accurate.  This is a perfect no-shift option to exact intersections on your quilting designs.

Christine recommends cutting one day, pressing the whole pile of squares another day and then stitching the third.  Or at least, doing these steps in 3 different processes.  She also shared this awesome tip:

Use the WHITE glue, not the gel glue.  The gel doesn't set at strong.  With the Glue Basting method, you can actually glue and entire row of blocks at a single time, without having to get up and down to go to the sewing machine.  Just park that ironing board right by the design wall.

Turns out, you can also glue baste those English Paper Pieced hexagons, too!  

(!!! Get right outta town !!!)

Use a glue stick and remember the elementary school adage "A Dot is A Lot" when adding glue to the back of your prepared pieces. 

 Once all the glue is applied and the fabrics are folded over, simply whip stitch your project together and remove the paper.  

October 2014 Demo Days - Bead Embellishments

October 2014 SAMQG meeting was "Demo Days" in a round robin style where there were 4 stations set up and 4 guild members each demo'd a technique or style or method used in their quilt-making.

Up next, Marilyn K.  Marilyn makes the most amazing small-piece quilted works of art by adding beads and embellishments.  Check out some of the close up details of her work.  

At her Demo Day station, she fielded loads of questions and answers regarding her thread type, her found materials her preferred beads and her assortment of perfect needles.

Please please click on the photos to enlarge them.

That is Marilyn, right there in the white.

You've got to click on these photos to enlarge them.  Every thing from found fabrics, to special metallic "tube net" stuff, to scraps to layers and layers of beads.

Some of the stitches are quilting, some are applique, some are decorative, some are planned, some are wild and all are AMAZING.

This is the wool + walnut shell pin cushion that makes it all possible.

How cool is that net?

This is a full-on treasure box of great sewing, beading, quilty, needlework goodies.

Thanks so much, Marilyn, for sharing your awesome process with us.  That artful bead work is very inspiring!

October 2014 Demo Days - T-Shirt Quilts

October 2014 SAMQG meeting was "Demo Days" in a round robin style where there were 4 stations set up and 4 guild members each demo'd a technique or style or method used in their quilt-making.

First up, Sara E.  Sara was showing us how she prepped and "moderned up" T-Shirt Quilts.

First up, get your shirts together.  And grab some of your favorite fabrics.  (Anna Maria Horner fabrics shown above.)

CAUTION:  When cutting out the "motif" from the front of your shirt, do it with scissors and be mindful of the shirt back.  In lots of cases, the shirt back has a bigger logo on it or at the very least, you'll want to use that fabric to fill in gaps in your final quilt design.

Ok, now get down to making a regular shape with straight sides.  It doesn't matter what the shape is.

Grab a piece of fusible pellon interfacing larger than the t-shirt design.  Place the shiny/fusible side up facing the WRONG side of the t-shirt.

Sandwich the shirt + interfacing in between two layers of parchment paper.  When you press the shirt to the interfacing, the extra glue will NOT get on the iron or board.  And the parchment paper makes it super easy to peal off.  This was a GREAT tip.  Thanks, Sara!!

The shirt itself is prepped and ready to rumble.  All you do now is take it to the cutting mat to decide on your final straight-edged shape, while cutting away any excess interfacing.

From there, Sara picks a fabric from her stash to start adding the sides of the t-shirt motif in a way that would do a "wonky log cabin" block.  Pick a piece, stitch a seam, press, pick another piece, stitch a seam, press, repeat.

Thanks so much,  Sara!  Those were some great tips.  And the wonky or improved version of building up t-Shirt quilt blocks is wonderful.  

Jordan's US Army Quilt

This is the Show'n'Tell quilt that Jordan H brought to our October Guild Meeting.  I know you will want to see all the sections up close, so I grabbed loads of pictures for you.   

She tells us that many of her friends and family members are military and she often makes the military service members quilts.  Usually she makes them and gives them away so quickly that she doesn't get to share them with the guild.

Please click on the pictures to see them larger.  This no-pattern, improv-but-not-wonky, quilt has loads of very interesting pieces.

Hi Jordan, peeking from behind the awesome quilt.

In the photo above, you can see the lettering "A R M Y"

In the photo above, the letters " H O O A H"

In the photo above, the word "AIRBORNE"

October 2014 SAMQG Show'n'Tell

Another amazing Show'n'Tell or Sew'n'Tell

This is most of the quilty photos.  

There are a couple "top secret" quilts that didn't make it online.  Just know they are amazing.  

AND there is one that has so many unique details in the piecing, I knew you'd want to see it in its own blog post.  So stay tuned for Jordan's USArmy quilt.

As always, click on any picture to see it larger.