Family Name Wallhanging

Here is a cute wallhanging I made for a deserving family. Yes, you guess it... They are Cardinal fans. :)

Quilt Cut Cutting Board

As you may have noticed, I'm in love with my cutting board. Since I've been posting pictures using it, I've been getting a lot of questions about it. Unfortunately, I don't sell them or get any money from writing this part of my blog. But, I do want to share how cool my cutting board really is and how it is worth the money. 

Here is an overview of the cutting board.  There are a few things on this board that a flat Omnigrid mat does not provide. First, there is a clamp bar that holds the fabric firm and in place while cutting. Second, The speed gauge and cutting guide provide a quick way to cut and measure your fabric. The guide also turns to many different degrees and attaches to two sides of the board. Third, the board is held to the table by rubber stoppers on the bottom. I was worried about the board moving but it stays in place. 

As I mentioned above, the cutting guide and speed gauge rotate to many different degrees. Here is a good example right from Altos website:

The speed gauge is my best friend! I can move the gauge to the exact measurement I want to cut. If I want to cut 2 1/2 inch strips, I move the gauge to the 2 1/2 inch mark and start cutting. Then I slide the cutting guide over so the speed gauge lines up with the cut I just made and cut again. I repeat this process over and over until I have the desired amount of pieces. 

I also purchased the carrying case for my board. I actually kept the original box and used it as storage when the board was not in use. However, the box only last a little bit and I travel and teach classes often so I invested the money for the case. 

The case is padded, has zippers on the sides, pockets for carrying my rotary cutters, rulers and more. 

I strongly suggest checking the board out! This will show you the online demo: 

Online Demo

I plan on purchasing another board from Alto's however it will be the Quilt Cut Pro version. 

Pro Version

The pro version has all the cool features of the Quilt Cut 2 however this pro version is bigger and has a bolt roller. The bolt roller is additional but I think it's worth the money if you're cutting a large amount of fabric at once. 

Here is the main page of Alto's. Please leave me comments on what you think about the board. Or, you can always ask me questions about the board. Thanks!

Quilt Cut

Pinwheel Peace

 Here is a quilt I made out of pinwheels and squares. I first started by making the pattern on a grid of 

15 X 15 squares with each square being 4 inches. Then I color coded everything, number everything and started cutting. 

When I have a lot to cut, I use this cutting board. It allows me to cut 4 layers of fabric at once. Plus, it allows me to cut in all different directions. I LOVE this board!

I first cut 3 inch squares. Then I turned my straightedge to a 60 degree angle and cut my triangles. 

These are the triangles I made out of the squares. 

Here's my stack of triangles. Now, I am ready to sew.

I sewed together a colored triangle and a white triangle. Then ironed them open. Last, I ironed the seam open on the back. This is an important step because the seams meet up and produce a lot of fabric in one area. When your quilt is quilted, these areas can prevent quilting. So, iron the seams open in order for your quilt top to lay flatter and be able to be quilted. 

All seams are ironed open.

Front.

After I sewed all my pinwheels together and ironed all seams open, I started sewing the quilt top together. This is the main row of the quilt, so I started with that and built upon it. 

Here's a pic of the progress...

The peace sign is complete. Now, I just need to add borders. 

The top is now ready to be quilted. 

**If you are interested in seeing the grid (pattern) I designed to make this quilt, just let me know and I'll send it to you. :)

No Power!

I just had to share this:

There are times in your life where you are very proud of your family. I get to experience these times quite often. However, recently we were without power for 3 days. No big deal, right?! Well, it wasn't until it was almost warmer outside than inside our house. It was 28 degrees outside while 38 inside. I'd say we needed some power to warm things up a bit. Here's one of the pics of how we stayed warm and happy during the power outage. I'm proud that we pulled through it together and made the best of it as a family. No arguing, no tears, no fits from anyone. It was great to spend all this time together without the TV and computer. However, I don't want to go without heat for that long again. :)

Pantographs

I often get asked "What is a pantograph?"

Well, here is the short answer: A pantograph is one edge to edge design that is quilted continuously across the whole quilt. 

Pantograph prices can range from $0.015/ square inch to $0.05/ square inch depending on the difficulty of the pantograph. 

Here are a few examples of the pantographs I own and use on quilts. (I have hundreds of pantographs, so here are only a few.)

There are literally thousands of pantographs to fit any quilt design. If I don't have a specific pantograph you are wanting, I will order it for your quilting order at no additional charge. 

Baby Clothes Quilt

 Here is the pile of clothes I was given to start a quilt. The clothes will become one quilt and the pile of blankets will become another quilt.

 The shirts are fussy cut and waiting for the fusible webbing to be ironed on the back...

 This is how the pants looked before...

Here are the pants after I cut them... Now it's time to get the fusible webbing on the back of everything! This is going to turn out great!!!!

Here's the shirts after I added the heavyweight fusible to the backs and squared the off.

This is what the back looks like after adding the heavyweight fusible. 

Once I sewed the shirts together, I added some sashing. Make sure to iron your seams open for easier quilting. 

Here are the shirts after being sashed. 

I did the same procedure for the night outfits. These I cut to smaller pieces so I can put them as another border. 

Here is the quilt with the night outfits added as a border. There will be one more blue border and then it is off to the Gammill quilting machine!

UPDATE: Here is the finished quilt! It is on the way to it's home in Daytona Beach, Florida!

Here is a close up of part of the quilt.

This is the back. I chose to use a fluffy, soft fabric. Although you can't see the thread colors, you can still see the quilting. Plus, it is super soft!!!

Pinwheels the beginning

And so it begins... I finished cutting over 600, 3 inch triangles for a pinwheel quilt. Whew! I'm now working on sewing them together to make the pinwheels. I'm one who irons every seam open, so this is going be a long process!