Happy Zombie

My new baby, Walter. He came dirty and grungy and I cleaned him up pretty. He’s almost pristine and sews like a dream! Best part - he doesn’t stink! Ways back I had to sell my black one because I couldn’t stand the smell. Thanks to friends on Instagram I found out the white (celery) ones don’t tend to smell… and it’s true!!

Totally cute, am I right? Up top.
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A few years ago my friend and fellow guild member, Christina Cameli, gave a presentation at guild on free-motion quilting on home machines. Christina’s presentation was my first lesson in FMQ on a home machine, and she was an amazing teacher and gave me my start on my FMQ journey. It came as no surprise to me when I found out Christina had authored a FMQ book! Now everyone can get Christina’s lessons!

I’m not a reader. Like NOT a reader. My friend Mo “Evelyn Wood” Bedell can read a book in days, and that same book that she loaned me has taken me 2+ years to get halfway through it. So in this weird “hey I like pictures” way, I was able to read ish Christina’s book and get sooo much out of it. THAT is a great book when an author can reach all kinds of readers, especially terrible ones like myself. FSTFMQ is filled with tips and tricks and all kinds great information. And to top that off, there’s a ton of crazy, great projects to make!

So using Christina’s quilting motifs, that range from super beginner to advanced, I set out to try them on some notebook covers I was making.

With the book next to my machine for reference, I gave it go. First on one notebook cover, and then on a second one. I’m totally digging this!



Oh hai, shameless plug.

Sometimes I blow my mind that I’m actually FMQ’ing. I’m still learning, and I’m certainly no where near to being good at this - but I love doing it, I love my continued learning and I’m most of all I’m happy with finishing a quilt in a few days vs a few months. (and by months I mean years)

Wanna see what others are saying ab out Christina’s fantastic book?  Follow along on the FSTFMQ Tour:
9/25 - Allison Rosen: Stash Books Blog
9/26 - Jessica Alexandrakis: Life Under Quilts
9/27 - Monica Solorio-Snow: Happy Zombie
9/28 - Susan Beal: West Coast Crafty
9/29 - Kathy Mack: Pink Chalk Studio
9/30 - Angela Walters: Quilting is my Therapy
10/1 - Amanda Jean Nyberg: Crazy Mom Quilts
10/2 - Megan Dye: Megs Monkey Beans
10/3 - Victoria Findlay Wolfe: Victoria Findlay Wolfe Quilts
10/4 - Katie Pedersen: Sew Katie Did
10/5 - Christina Cameli: A Few Scraps

Win a copy of First Steps to Free-Motion Quilting!  Leave a comment by Tuesday, October 1st by noon-ish PST and one lucky winner will be drawn via random.org.  A United States winner can choose either an eBook or a hard copy, and an international winner can win an eBook.

Edited in: The giveaway has now ended, and using random.org for comments 1-247, the winner is #79 by Nadra (of Germany!!) from ellisandhiggs. Congratulations, Nadra!!

It always boggles my mind that after only a few seconds after the auto shut-off has gone off on my iron, my iron immediately cools off. But when I’ve been out sewing with friends and it’s time to go home and pack up my iron - it stays endlessly hot after unplugging it. I have a nice bag I’ve made for my iron, but I still end up wrapping my iron in an old towel.  Thank goodness I have friends… friends that put up with my iron-woes… super talented friends like Elizabeth that has creative solutions and creates the Iron Cozy pattern.

After watching Violet make her seriously cute iron cozy (in her Waterfront Park) at PMQG sew day last Saturday, I was inspired to get started on mine.  Not only fun to make, but Elizabeth’s pattern is easy to read and understand, (and she’s got really great photos to follow along on because I sew-by-photo).

I used “I AM NINJA” from Robert Kaufman for the sides, and some pieces from my Winterkist collection for the bottom and strap.

I kinda want to make two so I can have a pair of slippers.  One never knows when they’ll come across a bed of hot coals.

A good (and simple) excuse to practice free motion quilting.

I need to work on Oliso iron #6… turns out #5 is a leaker. Maybe #six iron’s the charm.  Not gonna give up, I love that damn iron too much. 

This ninja fabric is so damn cute and makes the iron cozy so squeezably squeezable. And because Ninja is my secret nickname, especially in a blizzard.

Totally squeezable, am I right? Up top.

Welcome to the Zakka Along 2 to celebrate Ayumi’s Patchwork Please! book! My turn on the Zakka Along is making the Happy Hexagon Trivet. My heart feels likes it’s squeezing as I look at all the beautiful photos of the projects in Ayumi’s book. Patchwork Please! is a smorgasbord of yummy projects for every taste, every occasion and every skill level. I love Ayumi and I love her all projects.  And of course I love Ayumi’s lunch bag pattern - it’s only a matter of weeks and I’ll be on my one dozen’th one.

For my Happy Hexagon trivet I chose some fabrics from a cute Kawaii roll I got from Bunny’s Designs and paired it with some Robert Kaufman’s Essex Yarn Dyed (in Flax). Like mac n cheese, the two play so beautifully together. But then E V E R Y T H I N G plays beautifully with Essex!  For the center piece I made my own pieced unit so I could use the little scrap of monkey I had.   I chose to use the freezer paper method (which I learned how to do when I made my Treat Yo Self quilt from the Refrigerator Magnets Quilt Blocks pattern by Elizabeth) to make the trivet.  By using the freezer paper, I was able to get my fussy cuts just perfect.  Iron over what I wanted visible, and then trim it ¼” past the paper’s edge.  Brilliant.

When I got to the Essex round, I stitched on large scraps, pressed…

…and then pressed on the freezer paper and lobbed off the fabric at  ¼” past the paper’s edge.

Next round I did the same thing - pressed my freezer paper on to my fabric to fussy cut, and then cut ¼” past the paper’s edge, and then joined it to the hexagon.

After the yellow round, I did the same method as the previous round with Essex - stitched on, press freezer paper on, and then trim.

Rinse. Lather. Repeat. Bind.

I finished the trivet with some hand quilting.

GIVEAWAY #1
I have some fabulous goodies for my giveaway furnished to me by Robert Kaufman, Form & Fabric, Pellon and Aurifil
Robert Kaufman: Four half-yards of Essex Yarn Dyed
Form & Fabric: Bundle of sunshiny fabrics plus some their signature kick-ass stickers
Pellon: Sampler “color cards” of their batting and interfacing products
Aurifil: Thread, thread, glorious thread

Just leave a comment below and I’ll have random.org draw a winner on Thursday, August 22, 2013 around noon ish PST.

GIVEAWAY #2
Want to join in on the Zakka Along 2? Want to win some cool stuff? Be sure to visit A Quilter’s Table for the Zakka Along 2 for the link-up info and to enter for a Kawaii roll from Bunny’s Designs and other great prizes.

Want to zakka along, too?  You can join in the fun at the Zakka Along 2 flickr group here.  Check out the Zakka Along 2 tour’s past, present and future:

.June 3: Penny of Sew Take a Hike –> Bell Pepper Coasters
.June 10:  Maureen of MC Handmade–> Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Towels
.June 17:  Anna of Noodlehead –> Lettered Tea Cozy & Teabag Pouch
.June 24:  Angela of Cut to Pieces –> Polka Dot Café Apron
.July 1:  Lynne of Lily’s Quilts –> Diamond Patchwork Placemat
.July 8:  Lindsey of LRstitched –> Yum Yum Apple Bib
.July 15:  Sukie of Sukie Don’t Ya Know –> Dino-Mite Hat
.July 22:  Jennifer of Ellison Lane –> Books for Baby Quilt
.July 29:  Krista of Poppyprint –> My Scrappy Box
.Aug 5:  Kerry of Very Kerry Berry –> Swedish Bloom Time Lap Quilt
.Aug 12:  Tamiko of Patchwork Notes –> You’ve Got Mail Wall Pocket
.Aug 19:  Monica of Happy Zombie –> Happy Hexagon Trivet
.Aug 26:  Krista of Spotted Stone Studio –> Piece of Cake Shopping Bag
.Sep 2:  Lori of Bee in My Bonnet –> Triangle Patchwork Box Pouch
.Sep 9:  Amy of During Quiet Time –> Vintage Pencil Case
.Sep 16:  Svetlana of SOTAK Handmade –> I Love My iPad Quilted Cover
.Sep 23:  Amber of One Shabby Chick –> Handy Market Tote
.Sep 30:  Debbie of A Quilter’s Table –> Sweet Trips Embroidery Pouch
.Oct 7:  Leila of Where the Orchids Grow –> Prettified Pincushion

RESOURCES:.
Patchwork Please! book
- Author: Ayumi Takahashi
Giveaways:.
- Giveaway #1 at Happy Zombie
- Giveaway #2 at A Quilter’s Table
Zakka Along 2.0 :: Patchwork, Please!.
- Flickr Group
- Hosts Lindsey and Debbie
Promotions.
- Robert Kaufman
- Bunny’s Designs
- Form & Fabric
- Pellon
- Aurifil

Edited in: The giveaway has now ended, and using random.org for comments 1-498, the winner is #212 by montse (of Spain!!) from Montse Cose Cose. Congratulations, Montseta!! This giveaway could not be more international (Japan, Italy, USA and Spain!) - I love that!!

Robin Thicke sings Blurred Lines with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots (with kiddie instruments!). Waiting for this version to appear on iTunes. Want it, and want it hard.

The NYC Mod Quilters have teamed up with EZ Quilting/Simplicity, Juki and Interweave for the Double Wedding Ring Challenge using the Darlene Zimmerman EZ Quilting/Simplicity Double Wedding Ring rulers.

Remember the Dresden Challenge the SLMQD did with Darlene’s Dresden ruler?  This is the same type of challenge and it is open to everyone who wants to participate.  If a challenge isn’t fun enough, there’s a cavalcade of prizes and multiple categories to enter in.

You can read all about the challenge here.

The nice people at Simplicity have given me one set of Darlene’s ruler for a give-away for one lucky winner. More at the end of this post.

The rulers can be purchased from participating retailers or you can purchase them directly from Simplicity here (and the optional solid arc here) or from Darlene here (and the optional solid arc here.).  There’s a complete Dresden set plus the single arc ruler if you don’t want to make a pieced arc (like I did).

This is the first time I made a double wedding ring quilt (well, mutant coaster quilt), and I found this tutorial on the Simplicity website helpful.  I was putzing around trying to learn how to use these tools, and hopefully trigger an idea to make something unconventional and new with them.  While I was playing with the rulers, I discovered a 10″ Moda layer cake is perfect for two single arcs and two connector squares.  PERFECT!   I dove into my Moda’s Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie and Camille stash and set out to make a mutant drink coaster.  Four 10″ fabrics + background fabric = one ring.

I made some paper templates to insure I’d cut in just the right spot.

I used Robert Kaufman’s Kona Snow for my background. The tools are marked so I knew exactly what size pieces of Kona I needed to make before cutting out the shapes. Nif. Ty.

I got a little cocky and went pin-commando.  I wanted to use my seam ripper, anyway.

A steam iron, pins (learned that the hard way) and a good spritz of starch is helpful.

Lots and lots of pinning (the perfect job for a Duck Dynasty marathon) and patience and steam and more pinning.

DWR Challenge Kick-off Blog Hop:
July 8: NYC Mod Quilters & Interweave
July 9: Emily Bailey & Shelly Pagliai
July 10: Amy Ellis & Faith Jones
July 11: Amy Smart
July 12: Dan Rouse & Elisa Albury
July 13: Jenny Cameron
July 14: Jane Davidson
July 15: Joanna Wilczynska & Jackie Kunkel
July 16: Kathy Doughty & Juki
July 17: Lisa Mason & Flaun Cline
July 18: Pat Sloan & Jessica Alexandrakis
July 19: Jacquie Gering, Lee Heinrich & Monica Solorio-Snow

GIVE-AWAY!
For a chance to win a set a tools, leave a comment and I’ll have random.org draw a number on Tuesday, July 23rd around noon-ish PST.  If you want, you can comment what sounds more fun: a pieced arc or a single unit arc.

Edited in: The giveaway has now ended, and using random.org for comments 1-156, the winner is #94 by BrendaLou. Congrats, BrendaLou!!

Fact ish: if you draw happy faces on produce they will sprout hair.

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Making yo-yo’s the old school way (via allpeoplequilt.com) while marathon’ing through True Blood.  When two addictions collide.

I’m only in season 2 of True Blood… who knows how many yo-yo’s I’ll have by the end of season 6!

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Recently a “5 Things About Me” meme happily blazed through on Instagram, and now the Modern Quilt Guild is promoting the meme so those going to QuiltCon in Austin can pre-meet before the big event. So fun to read everyone’s, and in most cases some really awesome surprises about people!

1. This is me. Every day is a bad day hair, so when I get that occasional 8 minute window of straight hair from a freshie blow-dry, I jump at the chance to take a pic of the rare hair event. Even if it means I’m bra-less and in my jammies. I will not look like this at QuiltCon - I will look like Hugo Hurley in girl clothes. And wearing a bra.

2. I hate the sun. I was born and raised in California, then moved to Hawaii. Nothing but sun, sun and more sun. Moving to Astoria, Oregon (the greyest, wettest place in the United States) is my Utopia because I have reverse SAD. Not that I don’t love a pretty sunny day… I just love them in moderation.

3a. I have an iPhone case problem. I didn’t call it an addiction until I rounded up a few of them to take this photo. There are more. Lots more.

3b. I got an iPad for Christmas. A new addiction is brewing.

4. I once had a really vivid dream about Jon Stewart, so I count him as an ex-boyfriend.

5. I was an extra in the movie The Right Stuff for college credit (I didn’t get paid, but worth it because it raised my GPA). I’m in the big BBQ scene and the fan dancer scene - and I have never seen myself (I don’t even know if I made it on to the film) because I detest seeing myself on video/TV/film.

RESOURCES:
– The Modern Quilt Guild
– QuiltCon
– QuiltCon Link Party
– Instagram
– my Instagram
– Jon Stewart/The Daily Show

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How I love me a good Sharpie!