Septembers Notes:

We had a great meeting on the 17th.  We changed some things up and made some changes in the room.  

Here are some of the changes we will make to the changes.  Sorry ladies still no tables. 

I'll find out from the arena why the lighting isn't great. 

We will have a bigger stage. All presentations will be made on the stage so it will be easier for everyone to see.

Add more seating to the front row.

Change where you line up for show and tell.

Its important that you bring your own mug if you want coffee or tea.  Preferably with a lid!

Here's a pattern I found on Pinterest to carry your mug:

https://insewingtimes.blogspot.com/2020/05/diy-bottle-holder-bag-with-cell-phone.html

It's a bit of a struggle to get some of the new things up and running.  But believe me when I say I think you will love the new changes we are making as soon as you get used to them.  

Membership will all be done electronically now. After the first meeting you attend, Betsy and team will learn who you are and be ready to sign you in before you walk in the door! So each meeting we will be able to tell you how many came to the meeting and how many total members we have. 

But you will have to join to get that information. We will share with every member who comes to the Zoom  Sit and Chat the day after the meeting from 12 - 2.  All paid members will get an invite from Anita the morning of the zoom meeting.

Sorry about the delay in the special Projects notes:  Some of you may know I was sick and Poor Sue just can't do a single thing without me... LOL

But here's the thing.... I feel that the notes for anything with the guild need to be kept private and for paid members only so you won't see them here.   

Also, For 30 dollars a year  you will get a lot from the guild and you really don't even have to attend one meeting!!  If you are new you can go to our website https://napaneequiltguild.ca/join/ and you can e-transfer your $30.00 right into our bank acct.

The special project notes and patterns will all be designs by Sue and I. I will design on EQ8 and I think if you have EQ I can just share the patterns with you there if you like. I spend a lot of time on PINTEREST and have no problems spending time to draw up new patterns or do my own ideas. That's the stuff I love!  So the link to the notes will be sent to you through dropbox! YOU DO NOT NEED A DROP BOX ACCOUNT TO ACCESS THE NOTES. BUT YOU MUST BE A PAID MEMBER.

When we have special speakers, they often offer workshops and we will do them at a special rate for members.  I know we already have two planned for this guild year.  

Paid Members will have access to all zoom workshops and sewing times . Right now there are only two, but I am hoping to add more and record them so that everyone can join in on zoom, if I ever get that figured out.

And in the winter months, maybe you can join our meetings. I am working on learning how to set up zoom so you can watch the meeting, not including any speakers unless they agree, the meeting and the show and tell for sure! and we will share that recording for all paid members to watch.

I know... you are thinking I have big plans... Well I will be honest, I am a mover and a shaker.   I live by my Motto... don't stand still!

But I am happy to hear all suggestions and I love constructive criticism. It gives me something to do!

I'll be back.... next month!

Gail

 WOW!!!!

What happened to summer?

I can't believe its the third Tuesday and our guild meeting is in a few short hours...  I postponed the box top special project until October.  I realized almost too late that there was just too much going on in September but October looks like it might be a better month. And yes, you are correct, I am not finished my project.  hopefully I will have more time now to finish it for October.

Here is your special project for September.. 

I was inspired a few weeks ago by a pattern I saw at Wilton Creek Fabrics for a runner that looked like this one, but the pattern required a ruler I didn't have so I went to work on my EQ8 design program and created this runner for you!  

So I sent the project to my dear friend Sue Fiddes, and ofcourse she had to (GO BIG OR GO HOME). and its all paper pieced. 😒 But boy, do I have a surprise for her!!

32" table topper!

Runner

Here are the cutting instructions to make one block of this runner.  If you want to make the runner you will need 4 x the white cuts, and 4 x the coloured cuts.

Cutting Instructions for one block.

• White (instructions for one block):

• 3 x 1.5” strip by WOF

• Re-cut into 4 each - 6.1/2”, 5.1/2”, 4” ,3” ,1.2” pieces

• From  each of 4 Coloured fabrics cut:

• 2” strip by WOF

• re-cut into 5 1/2”, 4”, 3”, 1.1/2”

• 

  Placemat

  
  
• For placemat only you will need:

 2 -  6 1/2 by 2 1/4 of each of 4 fabrics

• For the runner only you will need
• 2 - 3 x 12 1/2 pieces of white for both ends
• and all your left overs cut into 2" strips, sewn together, cut into 3 inch wide units to sew on both sides of your runner

block for Sampler

There are many options for making this block.  You can make this 4 unit runner, one block that we can make into a sampler at the end of the year, a placemat for those of you who don't need another runner, or possibly even a mug mat.  Or if you just want to sew with us, any of these projects can be donated to the Quilt show.

I will be providing paper piecing patterns (from EQ8) next Monday here on the blog for two sizes of blocks.... 6 inch finished and 2 inch finished ( for the surprise).   I found I could make either in the same amount of time to be honest, but Sue may have lots to say about that. 

Next Wednesday, Sept 25/2024 We will have a zoom call and I will give a little instruction on making the 4 block unit. We will sew from 1 to 4. For more information on that, Anita sent a communication email on Sunday with all the information on how to join the zoom meeting.  You must be a paid member to attend. But you can join by simply going to our web page. We would love to have you as a member: https://napaneequiltguild.ca/join/

See you at the meeting tonight!

 The Special Project for September - Part 4

Are you sewing?   I haven't been but was determined this week to get at my special project.  I took friday off everything I was doing and started sewing my special project.   I designed my project on EQ8 or 7 or something and printed out my patterns... Yes, I am going to paper piece this. and started immediately to feel the stress of not knowing what I was doing. And I gathered my tools.

Then, I had to think about how to turn on my machine... I know!!!!!  I hadn't sewn in a while and initially it evaded me.   But, after much name calling and pounding my head with my fist I got the machine on, oiled, cleaned and ready to sew.  

I choose about 9 fabrics and started on my first block.  Wait a minute, how the "BEEP" do you start paper piecing.   I immediately messaged my good friend Sue who didn't answer for about a week!!! and finally gave up and tried to start on my own.   When she did answer me, I told her I had remembered just before I looked for a very sharp knife... (I won't tell you how I planned to use it.)

After about 4 hours of working diligently at what I had no clue I was doing I did realize that everything was turning out a little small for what I had planned.... so back to the drawing board.  I gathered about 20 more pieces of fabric and started again.  By Friday night at midnight I had pieced all the components for my project.    

When I got up Sarturday the mayhem was more than I could handle.   There was fabric bits everywhere and my lovely little chrystal garbage bowl was full.  So almost before coffee I had to clean up and EVERYTHING I KNEW I WOULD NEVER USE AGAIN, went in to the garbage.  I took a quick break, cleaned up my kitchen, loaded the dishwasher and cleaned out my fridge.  So many left overs in there that had to go and I found a tub of old sour creme that went into the garbage as well, and finally took out the recycling.  After that I was ready to sew. 

Once again... I turned on my machine, without help this time, and started to sew things together.   After the blocks were made, (there were only 4 of them so easy pizzy).  But then, DISASTER STRUCK. I realized I had done ONE section of ONE block wrong and it needed to be redone... did you see the pattern piece in the picture above... yup. there it was until it went in the garbage under that tub of sour creme!  to say I hate paper piecing would really be an understatement at that given moment.  Yes, I did retrieve it and traced out a new piece and remade the one little corner of the one little block! 

By Saturday afternoon, I was putting on borders.  did I mention I ran out of background material.  Now my project is truly scrappy but if you look at it and can see the different fabric, you are too close to my project!  Back to the borders... DID NOT GO WELL!  SO, I stopped put on a good love story ( Mama Mia) then a good (somewhat) mystery Watched some olympics and those borders will get done next weekend cause I'm finished pulling my hair out for this weekend... Stay Tuned!

How's your special project coming along... let me know in the comments. Misery does like company you know!

Gail

The special Project for September part 3

  Picking the pattern

I always think this is the toughest part of making a project, especially when you are limited to the fabrics in a challenge like this.

But I spent sometime going through a bunch of magazines until I finally found one that had the perfect pattern for my fabrics...

Can you tell which one I choose.  I'm not sharing. you will have to wait till September to see my what I have done!

 

My absolute favorite tools by Sue (and Gail)

1. First off, I love my Wing Clipper Ruler.  I can do flying geese 4 at a time for any project I choose.

2. Quilt in a day Triangle square up ruler:  It cuts your trimming time in half.

I have one of these... but it is way bigger!

My favourite Rulers:

I love my OLFA rulers.   I have almost every size and duplicates of some (so I can use them at my sewing table and cutting table).   Years ago I wrote a blog about how much I loved these rulers and OLFA somehow got wind of it and sent me all the ruler sizes I was missing.... such a great company!!!

3.  Quilt in a day, battery operated seam ripper. It is very clean and fast to use. I haven't ever made a rip in anything. less chance of poking holes in your fabric.

I have one of these!   Its a Wahl dog clipper...   I use it for cleaning the threads on the back of an embroidery piece when I make a mistake and also trimming the dogs whiskers when they get too long...

4. Pressing stick.  It's small and easy to find and you don't have to get up and go to the iron. Excellent for paper piecing.  And good looking too!

I like my little Cricket Iron!  And I love the little bag I got at one of the Guild Quilt shows... we should make those bags again!

5. Fray Check.    I use this for when my sewing isn't perfect and I have a little booboo and I get some fraying and this solves the problem without having to rip it out..

6. Liquid basting glue. It has a fine tip and a wide tip and its perfect for when you are doing Heat and Bond and one corner sticks up. This glue will hold it down so you can stitch it safely.  Also good for tacking your corners of your binding on your quilt before you sew it down.

I love my Elmers glue.   I have it in several forms, stick pen and glue bottle with twist top.   I just twist the cap until the proper amount of glue comes out and away I go. 

Sharon Schamber, who was the queen of quilting many years did this great video on binding a quilt.   I loved her work so much and was glad to see that her video on this process is still on You Tube today.   The best, neatest bindings I have ever seen and she used.... Elmers Glue.  Click below to watch her video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2hWQ5-ZccE

7. Invisible thread:  Excellent for applique on it where you don't want to see the thread, or change colours.   Also excellent for quilting on a multi coloured quilt. I have never had an issue with ironing, and perfect on your domestic, sit down or long arm quilting machines.  Rarely breaks. Gives you all the texture you need without seeing the thread.

8. Pencils and Markers:  Sometimes you need a Chalk pencil to mark the edges of your appliqué pieces so you can see it on a similar coloured background. I use chalk to mark my lines for quilting and they wipe off easily with water.  

 I like my blue water removable marker and this fun little toy I bought at Walmart.   You just fill it up with water and the marker comes right out.  

9. Scissors and things:  I love my Scissors!!!  My favourites are my GINGHERS,  my FIDDY'S, and my HENCKEL'S.  they are not inexpensive but I have them tucked fully out of site so no one else ever touches them. (and neither do I... lol) 

10.  My magnets:  

I have about three or four to maybe more of these magnets.  I mean who wants to bend over and pick up pins that fall on the floor. Or pens or scissors or bobbin cases ... well anything that is metal.  Is this not the best tool ever made!  I think so. 

Along with that I love my little pin/needle/scissor magnets that make it easy find all that stuff on my very clutter sewing table.  

Your challenge this month is to pick 2 of your favourite tools, and bring them to the meeting in June.   Be prepared to talk about them and tell us why you love them!

Stitches... Stitches... Stitches

 It's an exciting Day.  You just went out and bought yourself a lovely new machine... It has so many great features that your old singer (or whatever) doesn't have. and all those wonderful stitch patterns that you can do  some wonderful things with...

Fast forward 5 years.

You sit looking at your machine and probably can count on one hand, possibly 2 how many of those wonderful stitches you have used.  Straight stitch, Zig zag, blanket stitch, maybe a basting stitch, a triple stitch, and maybe  the blind hem stitch if you need to hem a pair of pants.

The basic 300 from Bernina has 221 Stitches, so there are possibly 211 stitches you have never used.  So let's do something about that!

This month, the challenge is to find 10 stitches on your machine that you have never used or have forgotten that you used and sew them out on a sample.  I used felt for mine and a nice complimentary variegated thread. I have over the years used about 75 stitches off my machine...  I think there are over 1300 different stitch patterns. So I managed to find 10.   LOL

NO EMBROIDERY MACHINES ALLOWED

Embroidery stitches can be used for many things in quilting

• Quilting
• applique
• binding
• small decorative pieces
• large decorative pieces
• quilt blocks with different decorative stitches
• And many more ideas

My advice for successful decorative stitches

1. Think about backing your stitching area with a stabilizer or using heavy starch to stabilize your fabric
2. Don't try to sew for hours on end.
3. Make sure your machine is set up perfectly for success.   Remembering to change your single hole plate is very important.  (ask me how I know!) The right needle for the thread you are using.   And never start with a metallic thread until you know what you need to know about using metallic thread on YOUR machine.
4. Test everything on similar fabric before using it on your project.  
5. Call a friend to talk you down before you toss your machine!
6. Talk to a machine expert at the store where you bought your machine to get tips and Ideas.

I really liked this girl on You tube... make sure you take time to watch this video and try some of her ideas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcwz1gYXLFg

the special project for September Part 2

 Oh Man!  I almost forgot this, this month.

But aren't we all alike.  September seems like ages away until it's September and it's too late to do anything about it.

Ok.  so last month I got those colour chips.   Have I done anything about anything yer?  Nope. but I am going to do it right now.

So these are the colour chips I choose...

I realized I also have an orange/gold, white, black and Silver on the label.   So I choose a few fabrics that fall in those categories and I can still add, if I want, 1 colour. Purple is not overflowing in my stash.  So a trip to the fabric store may be in order.

• Purple
• Blue
• orange /yellow/gold
• Black
• White
• Silver

I don't think I'll add any more colours...

Paper Piecing - Sue's way or Gail's way...

SUE AND GAIL'S BATTLE OVER THE RIGHT WAY TO PAPER PIECE

Paperless Paper Piecing or Foundation Paper piecing

Sue's Blocks

Gail's Blocks

Tools:

1. Add a Quarter and/or add an eighth (both) 

2. Stitch in the ditch Foot (Sue)

3. quilting ruler to cut your 1/4 seam allowance (Gail)

4. Paper scissors

5. 28mm rotary cutter or 45mm  (both)

6. Small cutting mat or a rotary mat. (both)

7. Glue stick washable (Gail)

8. Glue pen washable (Sue)

9. Seam Ripper - NECESSARY (Gail) A lot easier for Sue!

10. Iron or Seam Roller

Paper

1. Freezer Paper - iron on to printer paper and print, or trace using a light box or your window  (Gail)

2. Cheapest printer paper you can find (Sue)

Thread

1. Deco Bob (Sue)

2. Invisifil (Gail)

Stitch Length

1. - 1.5mm  (Gail) (that's pretty tiny for my stitch ripper)

2. - 2.4mm (Sue)

Sewing

1. Stitching on the lines (Gail)  (yes! straight lines to follow)

2. Folding the lines and sewing beside them (Sue)

Ironing

1. Mini Iron, then steam after it's all done. (Gail's way)

2. Pressing stick then iron after it's all done. (Sue's way)

PAPER ON OR OFF when each section is done!

Foundation Paper Piecing you leave the paper on until you are finished sewing all sections together (more straight lines to follow... I'm liking this!)

But

With Paperless Paper Piecing the paper comes off in one piece and then you sew it together using your 1/4 inch foot as usual.

Sue's Thought's:

I think that it's less wasteful and less messy.  If you print it, it's more accurate but sometimes if you draw it it might not be as straight.  And your pattern is reusable up to  about 12 times or more!

Gail's Thought's:

When you sew on the lines it makes the block more precise.  Pulling out the paper can be a pain, but I use the back of my seam ripper, which I have very close, and run it down the seams.  The only other issue would be getting your fabric right sides together.

I did a little experiment. I tried to do both ways and keep the scraps for each one. I was amazed at the difference!  (Ignore the pen. It and I had a little fight!). Very Interesting.

Left - Scraps from Foundation Paper Piecing.      Right - scraps using freezer paper

So which way are you going to paper piece?  The Foundation Paper Way or the Paperless Paper Piecing way...

* * * Here's this month's Challenge * * *

Using the block below or any pattern you choose, paper piece one of the methods you have never done before, or one section of your block, one way and another section the other way.  

Here are some Youtube video's to help you with either technique:

Carol Doak, the queen of paper Piecing using the Foundation (sewing on the line)  Paper Piecing method.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV4LRtqIQNA

The Sewing Palace teaching the newest method, Paperless Paper Piecing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt5NvlBhAoM

Here is a link to my google drive for a copy of the block shown below or find it at Wombats Free Paper Piecing site:

Nick's star from my google drive or Wombatts free Paper Piecing Patterns

The Special Project for September

This challenge is all about colour.  Last month we traded labels etc and here are the rules.

1. YOU MUST use the colours on the label you picked.

2. YOU CAN add one other colour that is not on the label if you choose to.

3. IF YOU HATE your label or didn't pick a label you may find your own label and use it.

Each month from now until September I will do a special blog post for this special project.  I will add to this post each month so you may need to search for it and I will try and update it at the first of each month (I'm late this month)  before the next months post so there is no confusion.  These blogs will show my progress with the quilt (or whatever) I am making for the challenge.   Hopefully this will encourage you to get busy on your project.

March

 I want to talk about colour.

There are so many ways you can choose your fabric for this project. I plan to use SHADES of the colours, blue, purple, black and white... Here's my label...

The first step for me was to see what colours I could use that were similar to this label and shades of that colour that I will be able to incorporate into my project. So off to home hardware I went.  It's hard to see in this picture but the dark colours are pretty close to the colours on this Scotties tab... but the shades are amazing.   So Over the next few weeks I will be looking for more of these shades of my colours in my stash and I may even have to go shopping...Hahaha!

Other ways of finding colours that might match are through Colour programs.  I recently purchased the colour Catalog by Sarah Renae Clark https://sarahrenaeclark.com/color-palettes/. I love her many colourful pictures and I looked for a picture with the Mulberry and blue to see what would be nice to add to it (since black and white aren't really colours). here's the colour picture I choose from the collection... 

 So yummy and I have to say, I love the mountains and those pretty flowers... so maybe I'll add a green to my project.  I'll Have to see what I have...

So here are my colours for my project.... Dark Blue, a Mulberry, a Green.... (Back to the paint store for a colour chip), and black and white.... 

I'm ready to find fabric.

January/February. Its time to talk about Bindings.

Bindings

On these cold winter nights, do you sit by the fire, watching a great movie on TV, enjoying your time, binding, your latest creation? 

 NO! NO! NO! 

 That was a pretty picture I painted but, I hate binding my quilts... It's just one of those things for me. First off, I don't have a fire! Second of all, by the end of the day, no matter how much lighting I have, I am not interested in bindings at all! 

 Traditionally, I hand bound all my quilts, but now, call it laziness or whatever you like, I enjoy sitting at my machine, sewing the some what perfect binding on my quilt. 

Do you hand sew your bindings, or machine sew them? Do you pillow turn or use the backing fabric to self bind your quilts? Do you have any special tips or tricks when you bind your quilt? Some new fangled method no one has ever heard of?

This month the challenge is simple. 

1. Make a small quilt and bind it in a method you have never used before (if possible). 

2. Be prepared to show that little quilt next month with a short explanation of what you did and how you liked it, any special tools you used and any information you wish to share.

3. Give 3 tips on making binding that you think would help a beginner. Please have them on a slip of paper or in the comments below, so that I can put them into a handout for the April meeting.   I will also add them to this blog so they will be forever in stone!!! ( Be prepared to answer questions)

Here is a great YouTube video that I thought was excellent with all kinds of bindings to try.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QRtDaek3Po&t=328s

Here's my... I have never done it before...  self binding with backing fabric!

This technique actually turned out to be very simple.  I trimmed my backing fabric to 1" all the way around and turned it to the front.  I followed the directions in the video above and although I had a small problem I was pleased with the final result.

So let's get on board and everyone participate!