Mini Studio

I'm on the road so much that getting some quality quilting time in is a challenge. We are going to be in Southern CA most of the time until we leave for our January shows. This is my work space during that time. I have just about everything I need right here. If I don't, there are several quilt shops in close proximity.

My sewing and cutting spaces.

I even managed to get a small design wall into the space.

I'll be working on projects for a new program that will launch sometime after the first of the year. I have several samples to make for it. So when the samples are just about done, we'll make the announcement. Yesterday I completed the first of six. One down five more to go.

Before and After

Most people don't realize all that goes into getting ready for a show. This shows a very condensed view of what happens between our fully loaded truck and what you see when you come into our booth. These pictures were taken over the course of set up at a few shows. I was so busy setting up I kept forgetting to take pictures.

Our truck is fully loaded for Pacific International Quilt Festival.

This is the view of the inside of the truck from the side.

As you can see my husband is an excellent packer.

This is the other side. The grid is what we display the bundles of

Hand Dyed Fabric that you see in the booth.

Our hand truck has to ride on the outside some weeks.

I know we have had a good show when it can ride on the
inside afterwards.

These pictures are of our "stuff" in the aisle at the

San Diego Quilt Show

This is what all that looks like from the inside of the booth.

This is the view from across the aisle.

The quilts are hung and electrical is up and connected.

We are about a third of the way done. This picture was taken

in Portland at Northwest Quilting Expo.

We are about 75% done in this picture

Here is what our booth looked like last weekend at

Pacific International Quilt Festival

Remember that completely full truck? All of that fit inside

this 8' deep by 15' wide booth. Pretty amazing.

We have done this about 30 times this year. Our set up is easy compared to some of the other vendors you see at a show. It takes us between five and six hours to set up and between two and three to tear down. There are a lot of people with more elaborate booths than ours. We do our best to present a professional looking booth with products that you won't find everywhere. Thank you for shopping with us.

Pacific International Quilt Festival

I don't get much time to look at quilts and shop at this show. It is too busy and we don't get much time in the mornings before the show opens. So I need to spend that getting ready for the day. The Best of Show quilt is amazing! It is probably one of the best technically pieced and detailed quilts I've seen. Here are pictures of the quilt and the artist's comments about it that hung next to it.

The Jack Nicholson quilt caught my eye. The quilter is someone who started out doing Baltimore Album quilts. One of the comments in her write up is that she was working on eyes and who better to choose for a model?

Rulers

Not all of us own every size ruler made. There are so many different brands, sizes and colors. According to the "Quilt Police" we should use only one brand of ruler so all of our measurements are consistent. For some people the slight calibration difference is no big deal. But other people see this difference as significant. My personal favorite right now are the Frosted Olfa Rulers.

What do you do if you need to cut something but don't have the perfect ruler? You connect two rulers together. A Ruler Connector is the perfect tool for this. It will turn any two rulers you have into what you wish you had. Two 6" x 12" rulers become a 6" x 24", 12" square or 12" x 12" L-shape. And that is just one ruler size. Imagine what you can do when you combine different sizes.

Purchase this item 6" x 12" Frosted Olfa Ruler

Purchase this Item Ruler Connector

Newest Project

I had a couple hours free on Tuesday so I started on my next project. Here is a sneak peak at what I'm working on . The fabric is from Sew Batik. I think it is going to be very eye catching when it is completed.

Rainy Orange County

We are in Costa Mesa, CA for the Orange County Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival. It is a rainy day for our set up. There is a test track in the parking lot here that is testing tires. I bet they didn't expect Mother Nature to provide the water for the test. I bet the drivers are having fun driving these cars on the wet track. It sounds that way at least.

How to Cut Long Bias Strips

This is a topic that interests many people - How to cut bias binding super easily! When I demonstrate this in class one of the comments I get frequently is "That was worth the price of the class right there." The trick is to fold the fabric on the bias. Below are illustrations and written instructions on how to fold the fabric and how to cut your long bias strips. This works no matter how long or wide your piece of fabric is. Thank you to Dee Degitz for teaching me this trick. The From Marti Michell Corner Trimmer makes sewing the strips together super easy!








Step 1. Lightly press fabric in half

selvage to selvage.

Step 2. Open fabric up to the full width with the wrong side of the fabric facing up.

Step 3. Take the top right hand corner and fold it toward the center fold line. This forms a 45° angle.

Step 4. Next take the bottom left corner and fold it toward the center fold line.

Step 5. Now take the bottom folded edge and line it up with the top folded edge. The fabric is folded on the bias now.

Step 6. Position your fabric on the mat the way you would cut strips. This illustration is for the QuiltCut2 but this technique works with a regular mat and ruler too.

Step 7. The first cut is a triangle that shows you are cutting on the bias. If you run short in your strips you can use this to get another one.

Step 8. Measure and cut the strips as if the fabric were pressed selvage to selvage.

See the post on How to Sew Binding to a Quilt if you need help with that step.

Happy Quilting!
Carol