Moda Fabrics is a sponsor of the Million Pillowcase Challenge with American Patchwork & Quilting. I asked Jennifer Keltner, Senior Editor of American Patchwork & Quilting, what her inspiration was for such a big project. Here is Jennifer’s reply.
The inspiration for the project came from wanting to launch something that everyone could participate in—no matter what your skill level. With a pillowcase, it is fun and easy to make, doesn’t take a lot of time, and is certainly a way to showcase great fabrics you might not otherwise work with (don’t fit your usual style, color, etc.) It’s also a great way to practice a new-to-you technique such as prairie points, foundation piecing, diagonal block seams, etc. By incorporating that technique in a pieced pillowcase band, you can experiment first before making a commitment to a big quilt project.

On a very personal level, I was touched by two stories which made me think about the power of pillowcases making a difference. One was from a guild member who knew that in her area foster children had all their possessions tossed into a trash bag when they were moved from place to place. She vowed to have her guild donate pillowcases so every foster kid in the county could tuck their few possessions into a handmade case and have a soft place to rest their heads during trying times. The second was a story of a mother who made pillowcases for her son who was in a cancer ward—she was desperate to brighten up his room and his day. She did, and after he passed away, she had the courage to keep on creating them for the other people’s kids in the same tough spot. She and her husband eventually formed the ConKerr Cancer Foundation to make a difference for kids with cancer around the country by making pillowcases. Turning their grief into an ongoing effort for good really spoke to my heart.

I’m so touched by the hundreds of stories and emails I’ve read about where and how people are donating cases. The ultimate story of how the Million Pillowcase Challenge is an outreach to others came to my attention last week. Check out this girl learning to quilt with her mom, very inspiring girl (you’ll know what I mean when you check out her blog). Scroll down to the Tuesday, February 23 posting and make sure to click on the link to her friend Kristen’s blog to see how touched her friend was to receive the pillowcase. If this story doesn’t give you goosebumps….whoa! The power of quilting and motherhood and pillowcases and big hearts all rolled into one!
http://sarahely8989.blogspot.com/

Thank you Jennifer

The staff here at moda fabrics have been feverishly making pillowcases. We are addicted! Jennifer also told me that they have a goal of 1000 pillowcases to be made by their staff. I will have to let the Moda crew know about that goal. The following pillowcase is a tutorial of the pillowcase I sent to APQ.

The following is actually 2 tutorials, Prairie Points and Pillowcases.

PRAIRIE POINTS
Determine the size of Prairie Point you need. (I used a pattern from APQ that required 3″ prairie points.)
I doubled that size and cut a strip, 6″ wide x 45″ long.

Fold the strip in half length wise and press to determine the middle. Start on one end of the strip and cut every 3″ stopping at the middle fold. From the other side of the strip make your first cut at 1 1/2″ then start cutting every 3″ being sure to stop at the middle fold. Your strip will look like the one below.

6″ strip cut every 3″ alternating on each side so it it staggered

Lay the strip on your ironing board and press all the squares in the same direction. Leave the 1 1/2″ strip
loose. You will get rid of it later.

Then continue pressing all the triangles back onto themsleves in the opposite direction.

The strip of “Points” will fold together to create your strip of prairie points.

By pressing the points in the same direction you can “nest” each of the points into each other as shown in the picture shown below.

The points all line up nicely and rest inside each other. This step if reminds me of a caterpillar. To hold the “caterpillar” in place you can now top stitch this down to hold them in place.

A couple of other notes before moving on to how I used it in my pillowcase.
If you want a strip longer than approx 41″ of points just make another strip and nest it into the last point on your strip. This is the perfect size for making prairie point border on a baby quilt or throw.
The length of the prairie point strip will always be the length of the fabric. The only thing that varies is how many points and how far apart they are.
For example, cut an 8″ strip for 4″ prairie points and you will have fewer but bigger points. The strip will still be approx 41″/42″ long.
Cut a smaller strip 4″ for 2″ points and you will have a bunch of cute little tiny points. The strip will still be approx 41″/42″ long.
NOTE TO SELF: Love the 2″ point idea. Go make some tonight.

DISCLAIMER:
The instructions listed below are almost like doing a magic trick. Everytime we finsh one we say Ta Da!!
However it is very hard to illustrate it in pictures. So my word of advice is to make a sloppy copy pillowcase just in case you mess up. And I also want to say TRUST ME! you will love this method. It is two seams! remember Magic! TA DA!

PILLOWCASE CONSTRUCTION:

Pattern used is one of the free downloads from APQ.
Fabric featured is Whimsy by Fig Tree & Co.
Casing- Cut 9″ x 45″
Body of pillow 28″ x 45″
You choice of small flange, ric rac etc.
In the instructions below I have used the prairie points from above.

Lay CASING piece right sides up. Pin the points or trim of your choicealong the edge.
With me so far?

Lay Pillowcase fabric right side down towards casing fabric. Lightly roll the pillowcase fabric until you can see the casing fabric below. This will seem odd but it does work.

Taking the exposed casing fabric and roll it up to the top enclosing the entire pillowcase fabric. Pin together. Now you may think that you are making fabric sausages, but you’re not. This is also where you have to really trust me.

SEAM 1: Sew the tube together. I know it seems odd, but this IS where the magic happens.

Once you have done this step, literally grab a section from inside the tube and start pulling. (Love my great picture?This is where I needed the video.) Keep pulling until you have turned the entre thing right side out.
TIP: You must say TA! DA! as you pull so that the magic happens!

This is what it looks like when it comes out of the tube. The casing is completely sewn without doing any handwork!

Fold the Pillowcase right sides together.
SEAM 2: Sew down the side and across the bottom.

You now have a finished pillowcase. Serge or Zig Zag the edges if you choose.

Sleep tight!

Celebrities- Barb and Mary

6 Comments

January 19, 2010

Barb and Mary from Me & My Sister have a new website. Please stop on over and be amazed with the wonderful photography, projects and more. Okay there are alot of websites out there. I know this. Why I am blogging about them is their NEW blog. If you have ever spent anytime visiting with these 2 zany gals, you will know their prospective on life is nothing less than entertaining. Here is a bit of inside info about them, then hop on over to their blog, add it to your reading list. You will always be entertained. I Guarantee.

Before each Market we brainstorm on a THEME. Really, how do you create a booth and a catalog by combining the large range of designers as moda has? So Beach was kind of our working title for the last market. Who doesn’t love the beach and sound of water pounding against the sand?
Next, I sent an e-mail to the moda designers asking them to send us any family pictures or inspiration from the beach, ocean, etc. They could send us family vacation pictures and we could doctor the pictures in Photoshop. Barb and Mary did not let me down. A few days later I received a package in the snail mail. They sent a collection of VACATION pictures as shown below. Each picture has Barb or Mary “cut-n-pasted” into the picture. I added my own comment below each picture.

Someone has a major crush on Tom Cruise.Hummm I wonder who?

A little game of catch, anyone?

My aren’t we athletic?

My new’s years resolution sure is working good.

This is just a small example of how humourous these talented women are. I hope we don’t loose them to Hollywood.

QUILT FEVER

16 Comments

January 17, 2010

DO YOU…..

…Stay in your pajamas until noon becasue you are in the middle of designing a quilt?

…Write the name in the check register every time you write a check at the quilt store? (Now that we have debit cards this doesn’t work quite as well as it use to)

…Hide the credit card bill from your husband becuase of the fabric purchases?

…Need a separate calender for your guild meetings, lessons and quilt shows?

…Have a son who can knowledgeably discuss quilting patterns?
I must admit this one is true. This is a picture of my 25 year old making Dallas Cowboy outfits for his dogs on Sunday. Cowboys lost!

…Plan vacations around the dates of quilt shows?

…Take a quilt on vacation with you to work on?

… Have at least four unfinished projects?

…Drive 350 miles to the nearest quilt show or convention?

If you can answer to any of the above you officially have QUILT FEVER. The only way to treat it is too SPREAD it.

New Years Resolution (Kinda)

20 Comments

January 6, 2010

My first born “TYPE A” son decided his new year resolution was to completely

get off of FACEBOOK. Now this is a 20 something year old that is constantly wired in.

He explained that he was going to work on having more personal relationships in 2010.

Okay you know where this is going.

He has friends all over the country so keeping in touch without his social networking would be like trying to make him eat all his vegetables when he was four.

My second born who is quite the antagonist and knows his older sibling well,

posted this on the family’s social network board (formerly called a Chalkboard). Afterall if he posted it on facebook, Mr. A Type wouldn’t have seen it, Right?

< Basically he started taking bets against his brother. Whoever bet 3 days…. won.

The reason I tell you this story…. I think his resolution was a GREAT ONE.

I am certainly not a 20 something but I do have my fair share of social networks including Facebook, Twitter, this blog, etc. I have my Flickr account, my variety of google and yahoo accts. (thank goodness they are pretty much all managed through one acct)

Through social networking, I have made so many friends all over the country, even world.

I have participated in swaps through the intranet. I have had a great time and

I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

Okay now go back 18 years when my youngest son was born. I was in a quilting group,

THE BLOCKHEADS. We actually got together once a month to visit and quilt. We talked on the phone instead of sending e-mails. Was e-mail even invented then? They made me a baby quilt when Bo was born. I cried, I was so surprised. That was the first quilt anyone ever made me. I had been quilting for over 10 years. Why would anyone have made me a quilt? That is a Great question. It wasn’t just the quilt but the friendships that were stitched throughout that I will always treasure. Thank you Susan, Jackie, Jane, Anne and you other blockheads.

(I think they have e-mail now)

Okay advance to now. The basic grey designer for Moda recently welcomed her first baby into the world. I was going to immediately make her a baby quilt. Then I remembered her mother is a fabulous quilter and I was feeling quite intimidated. What could I possibly make for her? This is when I thought of the Blockheads. If they would have thought like that, my poor Bo

would have not had a baby quilt.

So I thought, what the hay? I took pieces from all of the past Basic Grey groups. Selected the greens and aquas. Sewed the Jelly roll strips together. I added narrow strips of additional blues and greens from other moda designers. Sashed it with a great fabric called “Grunge” in the brown colorway. (I could buy a bolt of all the colors grunge comes in. Very cool ! Love it!) I was able to bind the quilt a Basic Grey Christmas 2010 print. This quilt has a piece of 5 different basic grey moda fabrics. Yeah!

Sent the quilt top to a very talented machine quilter along with the baby’s name, date of birth, etc. I love how it turned out. (I am mailing the quilt tomorrow- It is a surprise!)

Why I tell you all of this is there is no way that any type of social networking replaces the old time quilting bees, friendship groups or progressive dinners. So MY new years resolution is pretty much the same as my Son, Mr. Type A. No I am not going off Facebook or Twitter and yes I will try and blog more. But I am going to have more personal interaction with my friends. Now this may have to involve travel so I can see my friends all over the country.

Hey, A girl has go to do what a girl has got to do, Right?

Who knows I may even have to start another blockhead group, part 2.

10 HOLIDAY EATING TIPS

19 Comments

December 19, 2009

A word to the wise:

1. Avoid Carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrot sticks on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas Spirit. If you see carrots leave immediately. Go next door they are serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much EGGNOG as you can. It is rare and can only be found at this time of year. Who cares if it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It is not as if you are going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It’s a treat. Enjoy it!
3. If something comes with gravy. Use it!! Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the Volcano.
4. As for the mashed potatoes, always ask if they were made with skim milk or whole milk. If it’s skim, pass. Why bother? It’s like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. the whole point of going to a Christmas Party is to eat other people’s food for free. Lots of it. Hello?
6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year’s. This is the time for long naps, which you will need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and a vat of eggnog.
7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and do not budge. Have as many of them as you can. They are like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you’re never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?
9. Did someone mention Fruitcake? Granted, it is loaded with mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it all cost. I mean have SOME standards. (Basic Grey’s next Christmas line is named Fruitcake- You can have as much of that one as you want. IN STORES JUNE2010)
10. Remember this motto to live by. ” Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the attention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, totally worn out and screaming, “WOO HOO what a ride!”

Have a great holiday. I am sure the top 10 list of new years resolutions will de-bunk many of the above. I think this is called cause and effect. Go out and enjoy life!!

10 reasons I have not blogged

12 Comments

December 11, 2009

10 REASONS I HAVE NOT BLOGGED

1. My computer has swine flu.

( thought it recovered but has had a relapse)

2.The lights went out on my “prelit” went out after 8 years of use

3. Added store bought lights

4. Tree fell over

( I might have willed this to happen- hated that tree)

5. New tree – up and decorated.

6 . Recieved the BHG 100 best cookies issue.

(too much drooling over the recipes to blog)

7. Due to # 6 have to join weight watchers.

8. Finishing up 2010 christmas for moda fabrics

(wish i could decorate my house for 2010 a year in advance)

9. Shopping for grown kids who already have everything

(Where is Santa when I need him?)

10. Stil overwhelmed with Thankfulness of how great life is!

Thanks for reading. Back to my randomness ….

VERY SHORT TALE

came from my husband’s friend…..

Once upon a time, a guy asked a beautiful girl,

“Will you marry me”?

The girl Said no”!

And the guy lived happily ever after and rode motorcycles and went fishing and hunting and played alot of golf and drank beer and scotch and had tons of money in the bank and left the toliet seat up and “tooted” whenever he wanted.

Sent this e-mail to the girls in the office and this was the reply from Outlaw…

The gal lived by herself, drank wine and margaritas, left the toliet seat down, went shopping whenever she wanted and talked to someone who would listen- herself or her dog or cat. (I added…. turned the kitchen into a sewing room and doubled the space in her closet)

Pay it Forward

19 Comments

November 17, 2009

Now that Friday the 13th has come and gone, I want to talk about the upcoming holidays.
When the kids were little, we all gathered to watch Charlie Brown’s Christmas. Ya, I know kind of lame for teenagers but my husband still insists. Sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving I offer to cook (of course nothing entices grown boys to come see mama like a home cooked meal)and we all watch Pay it Forward. This movie is NOT for the little ones but it’s meaning is.
If you have not seen this movie, here is some of the info from the web.

Like some other kids, 12 year old Trevor McKinney believed in the goodness

of human nature. Like many other kids, he was determined to change the world

for the better. Unlike other kids, he succeeded.

Sometimes the simplest idea can make the biggest difference.

This brings me to Quilter’s!! YES! Who better pays it forward?

Quilter’s are the best people in the world, Right? Any disagreements ?
Just look at how quick Cherri House was to respond to the injured soldier’s at Ft. Hood. Quilter’s quickly jumped on board making and sending quilts.

This is my favorite book of the season, Quilt for Peace. The message is wonderful. The author, Katherine Bell has great projects and wonderful charities to make and sew for. This pretty much sums up a quilter’s heart and spirit.

What about Camille and the Kimberly at Fat Quarter Shop? Both of these people realized the power of “The Quilt” by raffling a quilt with all the money going to this sweet family.

Talk about a great project for a Stashbuster? Check out American Patchwork & Quilting’s,

A MILLION PILLOWCASE CHALLENGE. Does a million sound like a lot? It does if you are talking $$, but did you know there are over 800,000 kids in foster care in America?

Let’s get a pillow case in each of their hands!

How are you going to Pay it Forward?

The holidays are upon us and it is probably best not to send out cards such as these.

I am working now on Moda’s Christmas collections for 2010 so just in case I am snowed under,(Ha! Ha!) I am wishing you a Happy Holiday now a reminder that it is not to late to finish up those new year’s resolutions from 2009!

One last bit of info and kind of a tutorial:
Seems like everyone I know is having twins. This is my fourth set of twin quilts in the past year! All BOYS!! I am kind of liking making 2 at the same time. Deb Strain is the proud grandma of 2 little boys, Graham and Finnegan. I won’t post a tutorial on COIN QUILTS, because there are lots of good ones already out there. What I will post is my tip on being ready. Any of my leftover strips I keep adding to a running length of “Coins”. I have a couple of different ones hanging on my bulletin board and add to them constantly. I make good use of some of the fabrics I may have thrown in the trash. Instead I just keep adding them to the strips. I keep a bright fun kid one going along with what some may call a dark and dingy one.
I am ready at a minutes notice. All I have to do is choose the color of fabric to go in between my rows and how long I want to make the project.

The area in between is the perfect place to quilt the names, date of birth etc. I tell my quilter Maggie that I am just lazy and do not want to make a label so she is so kind to quilt it in for me.

Maggie also isn’t afraid to quilt with the moda snuggles. Makes a great backing!

Kuddos to all you quilters out there for spreading the love!!

Covering the world one quilt at a time!

November’s Fabricmatcher Challenge

4 Comments

November 2, 2009

Have you ever been to Fabricmatcher powered by Moda? Are you not quite sure of what fabrics you want to use for which pattern? Go to Fabricmatcher and play around. Choose from from designers such as

Anka’s Treasures, American Jane, Calico Carriage Quilt Designs, Country Threads, Fig Tree, Kansas Troubles Quilters, Me and My Sister, Pieces from my Heart,

Quilt Soup, The Pattern Basket and more.

Mix and match from any of the hundreds of moda fabrics and viola! create your own variation of the original. Fabricmatcher will even print off the yardage requirements for you to be able to make the quilt. This is super easy to take to your favorite store, get the fabrics and pattern to start your project.

OR IF YOU WANT TO JUST START PLAYING, ENTER

November 2009 Contest:
The Fabricmatcher contest for November 2009 will be featuring

Pattern Designer, Cozy Quilt Designs.

The rules for the contest are as follows:
1 – You may use any Moda fabrics on your project.
2 – You must use a pattern designed by Cozy Quilt Designs that is available on our Moda Fabricmatcher website. Simply select Cozy Quilt Designs as the Designer under Find Patterns.
3 – Your project must be named Cozy Quilt in order to be eligible. You may enter as many projects as you wish, however they must have Cozy Quilt as the project name. Simply number them with a 1, 2, 3, etc. after the name.
4 – The November Contest will end on November 30, 2009 at midnight.
REMEMBER: You must have your Stash including your Projects available for the Public to view. You can change this in your profile settings.
The Moda Fabricmatcher judges and Daniela Stout of Cozy Quilt will select and announce the winning project in the month of December 2009. The winner of this contest will win a Fat Quarter Bundle from the Designer of their choice and a collection of autographed patterns by Cozy Quilt Designs. The winner will also be posted on our Moda Fabricmatcher website.

NOT SURE?

You can also shop for creativity by viewing some of the other quilts on Fabricmatcher.
Go to the Show & Tell area, choose a designer, click on the project tab. You will find
hundreds of digitally created options from other fabricmatcher members.

Enjoy!

Your Moda Fabricmatcher Team

quilt market and festival

7 Comments

October 20, 2009

I am back from Quilt Market and a day of Festival. Wow! What a great time! Everyone I met was such a delight! Lots of shopping, visiting and fellowship amongst the quilters!

A FEW QUILT MARKET PICS

Kelli Trimble and Melody Busch at Sample Spree

The next Moda BakeShop Sampler box was a big hit at Market. It is the cutest box of 12 different fabric collections – (40 – 2 1/2″ squares of each fabric from the collection) Also included in the box is a charm pattern booklet with an assortment of templates and the history of charm quilts from Barbara Brackman. Everyone here wants to buy 2, 1 to open and 1 to keep unopened. Run to your store (late November) and tell them you must have one.

A picture of my latest quilt, Martinque by 3 sisters. I Love it and I think a
magazine is picking it up for a future publication! Yeah!

Six Degrees of Separation
You’ve probably heard of the Six Degrees of Separation concept. Any one person is connected to any other person through six or fewer relationships, because it’s a small world. There is a movie and a game devoted to this concept. The Kevin Bacon Game. ( for hours of mindless fun go here and test your movie trivia)

Due to the power of the Internet and social medias, the saying is quickly turning to 3 degrees of separation. Knowing someone is not actually ever meeting them in person, right?!

Well I wanted to introduce you to some of my 3 degrees of separations that I can now say I have met instead of just knowing them through the world wide web.

Elise and Carry from our distributor in the Netherlands. They came to visit us between Market and Festival. I took them to visit Ft. Worth to see some “Texas Cowboy Stuff”. We couldn’t resist stopping by Cabbage Rose Quilt shop. I just had to take their picture
in front of the Texas flag door!

Karen and Rachel from Home ala Mode were busy having a great time at their first booth at Festival! Did you know there were moda home items? Apparently there were alot of people that didn’t and their booth was swarmed by anxious buyers. Crazy busy having fun!

I have had the pleasure of meeting Larisa and Rimma about a year ago, but was excited to see them again.

Larissa and Rimma along with several other Russian quilter’s put on a wonderful exhibit at Quilt Festival. This still applies to my 3 degrees theory because I did meet other friends of theirs from Russia. Beautiful exhibit. Great job! Read all about the Festival going Global.

Doug Leko from Silver Lane Quilting

I could go on and on about this young man. He is actually standing in front of the quilt he made for us. He is amazing! Remember his name because you will seeing it often in the future.
Also I have to mention his mother, Elaine. Good job, ma’am.