Berenstain Bears star quilt

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Bear Country School
 Are you looking for something fun and quick to make?
All you need is
 1 charm pack, 
3/4 yd background fabric,
1/3 yd inner border,
 1 1/2 yds for border and binding
The entire pattern is listed below but the following pics are some 
step by steps so you can see how easy this ruler makes sewing “off” corners. 
Blocks like snowballs etc are perfect to use this technique
 and there is no marking involved.
Quilt measures 48″ x 48″
Folded Corner Clipper, Stock #502
Prairie Sky Quilting

 With fabrics right side together, place the ruler on the fabric and trim. 
(the EXTRA trimmed triangles can be sewn together and used for another project.)
see how the ruler lines up at the point and includes the seam allowance
sew 1/4″
this method can also be done on pieces that are already sewn together such as the two squares above.
add the bella solid square
trim
sew
I also sewed all my “extra” triangles together as shown in the background.
To download the pattern to make this quilt, click HERE.
charm pack star12_5
Welcome to Bear Country
by Berenstain Bears is in stores now.
charm pack star12_11
 This is a great pattern to make using any charm pack!!

Have fun.
-modalissa

Friday Funny

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I am checking in after a whirlwind Market and Festival with a lame Friday Funny. I wanted you to know that I was alive and recuperating from a very long and great couple of months!!
I am back in the saddle. 
Here goes.
FRIDAY FUNNY
Check your shampoo bottle label.
I don’t know WHY I didn’t figure this out sooner!!!!
It’s the shampoo I use in the shower!

When I wash my hair, the shampoo runs down my whole body and (duh!) printed very clearly on the shampoo label is this warning, FOR EXTRA VOLUME AND BODY! No wonder I have been gaining weight!!!

Well! I have gotten rid of that shampoo and I am going to start using Dawn dish soap instead.

Their label reads, DISSOLVES FAT THAT IS OTHERWISE DIFFICULT TO REMOVE. Problem Solved!!!

If I don’t answer the phone I’ll be in the shower!!!

Sweet Celebrations blog hop

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Welcome Welcome. I am honored to be one of the stops on the tour along with such talented people. Sweet Celebrations features projects from 21 designers or as we call them chefs.
 Chef is code word so that our families think we are spending more time in the kitchen than in the sewing room.
Why I am on the hop? Because I had the honor of compiling this project. However I did not do it alone. I had lots of help from Angela Yosten and Jenny Garland who helped hatch the entire project.
I also wanted to give a shout out to Chelair Etter who took care of making sure each chef had the ingredients necessary to complete their project. Thanks also to the great crew at Stash Books for putting together such a great book that can be used throughout the year.
The book was started a year and a half ago so to see the actual book and the great projects inside is such a great surprise to see how it all came together.

Throughout the hop you will see a few of the projects in the book so I am not going to duplicate those images. However I am going to show you the pages titled, Celebrate the Designers. That is really what this blog hop is all about, celebrating the designers and all the work they put into this project. I am lucky enough to have my hands on an early copy of the book. I also have many pages flagged for the projects that I want to make!

If you are a storeowner, you can meet some of the chefs at market. They will be there doing a book signing in the United Notions booth.

If you are coming to Quilt Festival in Houston, there will be a Moda Bake Shop booth, showcasing some of the projects from the book as well as all the projects online at the bakeshop.

 Leave a comment telling me what your favorite part of quilting is and I will draw a winner for this little bag of treats that includes 8 different 2 1/2″ charm packs called Moda Candy.

My recipe is from a friend of mine, Debbie Outlaw. The recipe has been around for so long no one knew what it’s original name was…………so I took the liberty to rename it, Outlaw’s Pumpkin Muffins.

here is a link to the recipe.

Hop on over to Little Miss Shabby to see what she is saying today about Sweet Celebrations.

Modern Fall Quilt

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kennedy modeling my newest quilt
Can you modernize Halloween or possibly the 
celebration of Thanksgiving? Both Holidays are certainly the beginning 
of the fall holiday season in the United States, 
but neither holiday would be considered modern.
I love the season,
I love the colors
and I love the weather
during this time of year 
AND
I was inspired to sew.
I didn’t know what project but I had a color palette in  mind.
So I was looking back through my notebook of project sheets.
I have always
loved
 the Wee Woodland pattern so I choose some “fall colors”, 
grabbed
some candy corn and peanuts,
 threw them in a bowl for a sewing snack and started 
yet
another project.
The working title for this quilt was Modern Fall. It was my excuse 
to get to sew with
 orange, grey, magenta and greens and a 
natural grey pindot background 
without having to worry 
about the fabrics matching my house.
Whoa, wait a minute, did I give you the impression that 
anything in my house matches? 
It doesn’t, eclectic to say the least.
My kids are kind of tired of helping me hold up quilts for pictures,
so I solicited some help from my niece, Kennedy.
She is interested in photography, so I held the quilts
and she took the pictures. We have pictures from all different angles.
There is something about clicking that shutter button multiple times so it
sounds like a professional photographer.
I think that only applies to fashion photography not quilts.
 click, click, click
 I think it was a test to see how long I could hold my 
arms straight up over my head holding the quilt.
quilting by Natalia Bonner
Close up of quilting shown on Natalia’s site.
 
Enough with the quilt pictures. 
My arms were tired. 
It was time to change places,
I was behind the camera and she was in front.
 This quilt is easy and fun to make using an assortment of 10″ squares. Pattern info here.
My other niece Avery came home and helped “model” some
of the other quilts to 
be shown in future posts.
Thank goodness they still like to help Aunt Izzy.

what’s up?

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The 2 months before each Market is so hard for me.
Everything I am working on is top secret.
It drives me crazy to see all the fun things people are doing
and I am sewing under the veils of secrecy.
So I just wanted to drop you a few peeks at my projects.
More to come.
Let me just say NEW Minick Simpson/ future McCalls Magazine
Maggi Honeyman is working her magic on it right now!
This one is done and you will see it soon.

I blogged about this one here, during a tutorial for the Folded Corner Ruler.
What I didn’t show is the back. The folded corner ruler give you “extras” that are perfectly paired. I just had to sew the pieces together to make half square triangles. 

I told Bo I was finished taking a picture of the quilt
 but from the look on his face he doesn’t seem to trust me.
The kid does not like his picture taken!

Another quilt in the works!
Thanks for the quilting Natalia.
I have plenty of binding projects! Probably my least favorite part of the entire process.

Hex- a- Go Go Day

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Hexa-Go-Go
Yippee Yeah It’s My Day.
I hope you have been following along on the Hexa-Go-Go book tour. Tacha has outdone herself on her Hexagon English Paper Piecing book and has asked us to tell you what we think about it.

 August 20th Katy Jones – imagingermonkey – http://www.imagingermonkey.blogspot.com

August 22nd Beth Wilson – Sew Mama Sew – http://www.sewmamasew.com/blog2/
August 24th Cathy Underhill – Cabbage Quilts – http://cabbagequilts.blogspot.com
August 27th Lynne Goldsworthy – Lilys Quilts – http://www.lilysquilts.blogspot.com/

August 29th Jennifer Mathis – Ellison Lane – http://ellisonlane.blogspot.com
August 31st Angela Pingel – Cut to Pieces – http://cuttopieces.blogspot.com

September 3rd Jeni Baker – In Color Order – http://www.incolororder.blogspot.com/

September 5th Nettie – A quilt is nice – http://aquiltisnice.blogspot.com

September 7th Lissa Alexander – Moda Lissa – http://modalissa.blogspot.com

September 10th Sarah Fielke – The Last Piece – http://www.thelastpiece.typepad.com/
September 12th Michele Pacey – Michele Made Me – http://www.michelemademe.com/

September 14th Kimberly Jolly – Fat Quarter Shop – http://www.fatquartershop.blogspot.com/
September 17th Aneela Hoey – Comfort Stitching – http://www.comfortstitching.typepad.co.uk/

September 19th John Adams – Quiltdad – http://www.quiltdad.com/

September 21st Elizabeth Hartman – Oh Fransson – http://www.ohfransson.com/

Hexa-Go-Go
This is just once example of the happy colorful projects in the book.
Is Happy a color? It should be. If my unmade bed looked this good, Iwould never make it again. 

English Paper piecing or EPP dates back to the 18th century. This method was often used to stabilize fabrics such as silk. EPP continued to the art form it is today by using the smallest bits of scraps and transforming them into today’s heirlooms. I can imagine that learning EPP was similar to the craft of
teaching stitches by making embroidered samplers.
The luxury of EPP for me is that it is so portable and requires so few tools and supplies. I  even keep a small bag in my car with a clover needle threader, needle and thread, hexagon papers and scraps.
One of my favorite quilts in the book is a huge union jack quilt.
pics compliments of Stash Books

 I really want to make it, but instead I started on a smaller version of the US flag quilt. I worked on this during the London Olympics, so it is kind of the same, right?

This is my table runner in progress. I ran out of time to finish the field of stars
as hexagons so I am going to quilt it to look like hexagons.
I talked to my friends at Accu-Quilt and ……..
I have one  Go Baby for some lucky person.
Then I am going to throw in a hexagon die and mat. You will have the complete package to aid you in this addiction to this relaxing, therapeutic form of handwork. Leave a comment and let me know what you would make from hexagons. The winner will be drawn at random Sunday night and announced Monday morning. (thank you AccuQuilt)
 As you know I do love hexagons. There is something just so pleasing about it’s simple shape.
Warning: EPP does become an addiction as you will see in these pictures.
I have two different quilts started. I probably have enough hexy’s made to complete both quilts
but I keep making more.
I have even started machine piecing some of the hexy’s together.
Read how in previous blog posts here and here.
Sneak peek on my I Spy hexy quilt for a future grand child. No one is pregnant yet and I do not want to tempt anyone to get pregnant just to get the quilt. I have a long long way to go.More on this project in a future post.
Tacha has taken the traditional EPP flower garden to an entirely new level.
The hottest trend is the new English paper piecing. Amazing how great quilters are making a craft from the 18th century trendy again.
What would the acronym for that be? NEPP

There is an old saying: Nothing good comes from boredom. It’s said that idle hands are the devil’s workshop, an old saying dating at least as far back as Chaucer in the twelfth century who called idle hands the devil’s tools.
Keep your hands busy with Hexy’s and start with Hexa-Go Go for inspiration and direction.
Thank you Tacha!

Portable Design Wall

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Do you need a design wall that is lightweight but don’t have a wall to add a piece of flannel to?
Ask for insulation board at Home Depot or Lowe’s.
It is available in 8′ tall sheets and is the weight of a thick piece of dense Styrofoam. I am sure there are several options for this type of board.
 
I cut my board in half using a sharp knife.
Choose fabric to cover the board.
I used a flannel print from Bonnie and Camille’s collection.
Because the board is wider than than 45″ I had to piece the fabric together
so plan accordingly when picking fabric.
 This can be eliminated by trimming the board to approx 36″ wide.
Use T-Pins to tack the flannel to the board.  Slide the pins in at a slight angle to hold the fabric taunt.
At the corners do a hospital corner.
Did you know there was officially terminology for those tight sheet corners
that you have to squirm to be able to kick your feet from the bottom.?
Because the insulation board does not hold nails, I hot glued a yardstick
and added a couple of picture hangers.
Now it can be hung on most any wall since it is very light weight.
The board also comes in handy sitting on a cutting table and leaning up against the wall.
I would show you the final picture but mysteriously my flannel board has found
 its way into my daughter’s room for a bulletin board.
The fabric was perfect to match her room, or so she says.
Off to make a new one for ME.

Hex-a go-go

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Hex a Go Go  by Tacha Bruecher Book Tour

Starts August 20th.
It is time for another book tour.  The tour is all about Hexagons, so of course I was absolutely giddy for Tacha to have asked me to join in. Mark your calenders to follow along with designers from all over the world.  Regardless of what time zone you are in, there will be a great variety of people sharing
their review of this book.
Hexa-Go-Go 
 August 20th visit Katy Jones – imagingermonkey
August 22nd hop on over to Beth Wilson – Sew Mama Sew
August 24th  hear what Cathy Underhill has to say – Cabbage Quilts
August 27th go across the pond to Lynne Goldsworthy – Lilys Quilts
August 29th visit Jennifer Mathis – Ellison Lane
August 31st  travel to Angela Pingel – Cut to Pieces
September 3rd join in with  Jeni Baker – In Color Order
September 5th Nettie shares the buzz about this book – A quilt is nice
September 7th is my day! Lissa Alexander – Moda Lissa
September 10th pop in on Sarah Fielke – The Last Piece
September 12th  visit Michele Pacey – Michele Made Me
September 14th check in with Kimberly Jolly – Fat Quarter Shop
September 17th Aneela Hoey shines- Comfort Stitching
September 19th John Adams goes hexy on us – Quiltdad
September 21st is the prolific day for Elizabeth Hartman – Oh Fransson