Mystery Weekend 54 - Show & Tell

November was a big Mystery month for us here at Glad Creations. We've just finished the in-shop workshops for our 54th Mystery Weekend!  We had 3 great groups of quilters working their way through the mystery clues, chatting with friends and sharing some of their completed projects.  Check out our new class schedule online.  The next Mystery sessions will be offered in March 2015.

Show and Tell is one of the best parts of Mystery Weekend for us.  It's always fun to see what past mystery quilters have completed since the previous session and we love seeing the special projects that our new mystery quilters bring to share.

We saw several quilts using the patterns from the most recent Mystery Weekends, Gracie's Favorite, Connect the Dots and Little Trips.  It's so fun to see how all of the different fabric selections have turned out.

Enjoy our slide show!  We've labeled quilts in the show that are Glad Creations patterns.  Of course, there are no pictures of the newest mystery quilt since we have a number of quilters working on it through our by-mail version.  You'll be able to find the Glad Creations patterns in the pattern section of our website.   What fun!

Nancy

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"52 Finishes" How did I do?

“52 Finishes”  How did I do?

Just about a year has gone by since I started my personal challenge of “ 52 finishes”.  If you’re not sure what that is or how it works, you can read about my challenge plan on our January 6, 2014 blog posting. I started the challenge on the 1^st week of January, 2014.  I know many of our staff and customers also thought it would be a fun personal challenge to participate in and joined me.  It’s fun to hear how others are doing! 

So, how did I do?  I am almost caught up and feeling good about my finishes!  I added my last finish on Week #46 and now it’s week #48.  I think I’ll make it!  I plan to finish another project today, a Pink Sand Beach purse project that I picked fabric for last summer.  I also have 2 quilts on the way back from the machine quilter that will need bindings in the next couple weeks. 

Here are a couple of my last finishes.  A Holiday Happenings Tree Skirt from an Atkinson Designs pattern and a Joseph’s Coat table runner made as a sample for a new class listed in the winter schedule.

I had started this challenge by making a list of unfinished projects. I did finish a few of those but found most of my finishes were new projects—not always done as soon as I planned but at least done.  That might be partly because we always need new samples for the shop or for classes or just because I’m a quilter and love starting something new.  Most of you probably understand that!  

So my plan is to start again this year.  I have a ready-made list of unfinished projects that I wrote last year and a few I can add.  Those are still possibilities for finishes. Or maybe some of those would be better suited to gifting them to a group that would finish them for charity quilts.  Do you think that counts as a finish?  They’d no longer be in my sewing room!  

So join me in the 2015 ~ 52 Finishes.  It will be fun!  Trust me!

Susan

Scrap Crazy 6"

We had a great time at the Minnesota Quilt Show last week.  We thought those of you who weren't able to attend would like to see the demo that we did.  We showed a fun new template set from Creative Grid called the Scrap Crazy 6".  The set contains 4 templates ,all with grippy backs like all the Creative Grid rulers and together they make a 6" Crazy Quilt block.  A fun way to work from your stash! 

 Here are our demo boards and the crazy quilt table runner that we made with Kaffe Fassett scraps

 

But what really is fun are all the other blocks you can make by placement of fabric and orientation of your blocks.  Look at the same block made with positioning colors.  This 1st one is a Cut Loose pattern and also shown  in the Scrap Crazy 6" book.  The book offers more ideas for using the templates. The 2nd is the Peppermint Twist block.

We also made some samples from the patterns in the book.  The Sawmill table runner uses only the large trapezoid template.

 

 The Milky Way table runner uses only the 60 degree triangle.

   The Drops of Jelly table runner uses only the small trapezoid.

We'll have our samples and demo boards on display at the shop, so come take a look.  We made all of our samples from our scraps!  Didn't put much of a dent in them, but we'll keep working on that!  I think this is going to be fun!

Happy Quilting, Susan

                                                                                                                                                                           

Just a little bit modern!

Our Scrap Tamers 2013-2014 Club has ended for the year.  We always include a mystery quilt as part of the club and have club members show their quilt tops at the last session.  This year we named the quilt "Just a Little Bit Modern".  Being a fairly traditional shop, this was a fun stretch for us. What a variety of fabric choices!  So fun to see how these turned out.  So enjoy the slide show.

We had a great group of members this year and are looking forward to a new club starting in September.  Watch for more information about it this summer.

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Mystery Weekend 53 Show & Tell

Wow! Susan and I have finished our 53rd Mystery Weekend here at Glad Creations.  That's a lot of quilts!

I think the best part of Mystery Weekend for us is the "Show and Tell" that we see.  We love seeing what everyone has been up to.  It's always a mix of Glad Creations designs that have been completed, projects from other classes and wonderful project from many other sources.  We had a couple folks who have been working on their "52 Finishes".  They had lots of quilts to show!  If you don't know what "52 Finishes" is, check out Susan's January blog post.  We're all getting so much done!

Enjoy our slide show!  We've labeled quilts in the show that are Glad Creations patterns.  With the exception of "Connect the Dots", you'll be able to find them in the pattern section of our website.   "Connect the Dots" was our Mystery Weekend from last fall.  We saw several that were completed.  The pattern will be available in June. What fun!

Nancy

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A new design wall

I've noticed a lot of blogging about design walls lately.  Do you have one?  I made myself a new one last fall.  I love it and it was really easy to make.  I am lucky enough to have a sewing room--small, but my very own.  The design wall I made works well for me in that is is lightweight and can easily be moved within the room and big enough to layout most of a queen size quilt.

I had used a design wall for the last several years which worked fairly well.  I had covered 2 pieces of 4 x 8 foot foam core with white flannel.  I could either use one, or if laying out a large quilt could put them side by side.  After several years the foam core had warped and it was harder to lay out the pieces and harder to use for taking photos.  The white flannel was also looking a little abused.   It was time to make a new one.

I love the new one I made.  This time I used 2 - 4 foot x 8 foot sections of 1" rigid insulation.  They are still light weight and easily moved.  I can still use one or set them side by side to lay out a larger quilt.  I covered the insulation with the grey gridded flannel designed by Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.  The gridded flannel makes it really easy to keep the blocks lined up straight.  And I can pin into the insulation when needed. Here's a couple pictures of my design wall.  When I use them side by side, I move them to a different wall in the room, but I couldn't get far enough away to take a full picture from that direction.

The insulation comes in 4 foot x 8 foot pieces.  I cut a foot off of each since my sewing room ceilings aren't very high and I'm not very tall.  The flannel comes 45" wide, so I had to piece it--not a big thing.  I needed to make 2 pieces that would wrap around to the back so I could tape them to the insulation.  I cut the pieces about 6" bigger than the insulation.  It was good to have a helpful husband to be sure the flannel was straight and stretched evenly around the insulation.  With 2 of us it was easy to tape it around to the back. I used wide blue painter's tape to hold it in place, but you could certainly use duct tape.  I had planned to staple it, but don't think I had the right kind of stapler.

 Here's my Snack Time Quilt on the design wall. Great for taking pictures too.

The toughest part of this whole process was getting the 2 pieces of insulation home in our Ford Escape!  Never imagined that they wouldn't fit in the car.  I was lucky I didn't get picked up by the police for driving with 2 pieces of insulation over my head and the seat as far ahead as it would go!  Well, maybe I would have been lucky and the police would have been quilters too.  Then they would certainly have understood.

Happy Quilting, Susan


 

52 Finishes

Ready for a New Year’s Challenge?  How about challenging yourself to “52 Finishes!”

Do you have a bunch of unfinished projects?  Do you need a little push to finish some of them?  Would you like to have gifts already made for the coming year?  Then this may be the plan for you!  I’m going to start.  How about you? 

I was talking to my friend and fellow Scrap Tamer member Georgia about one of her own personal quilting challenges for 2014.  She read on a blog about the idea of “finish it up Fridays” and came up with her personal challenge.  She was happy to share.  She calls it “52 finishes” and it sounds like fun.   52 weeks in the year—52 finished projects. So how would this work?

This is a personal challenge so you could make your own rules and your own definition of finishing.  Finishing any project would count as a “finish”.  A quilt could count as either 1 finish or 3 finishes, depending on how you want to divide it.  The top as #1, quilting as #2, binding as #3?  Finishing a pillowcase or totebag you started would count as a finish.  I would add sewing a loose button back on (something I’m really good at avoiding) or shortening that pair of pants.   Or how about knitting projects?  You could finish 3 things one week and have a couple weeks off.  Get behind?  Catch up with some easy ones.

How would this work?

·         List 52 weeks on a chart with space to add the projects you complete. Keep track of what and when they are done.  Would it be fun to include photos?   I started with the first full week of January, Sunday January 5 – Saturday January 11.  You could start your challenge now or start at the beginning of the month like I did.   If I finish more than one project in any week, I plan to add the extra “finish” to a different week and thus give myself a break.

·         Start a list of projects that you would like to finish or start.  This will give you a place to start without having to rethink each week.  I spent a couple days going through my sewing room and listing UFOs.  It was sort of scary and I’m not done yet!  I included a list of any materials I needed to finish the project. When I purchase materials for a new project, I plan to add it to the list.  

So, how am I doing?  I finished a Folded Star Hot Pad for the week of January 5 – 11.  This little pile of fabric and the pattern by Plum Easy has been sitting on my sewing table for a couple months!  Once started, it was a pretty fast “finish”. 

 My second finish was a Zig Zag Geese Tablerunner. 

 I started this project so I could demonstrate the 

Flying Geese Ruler by Marti Michell in our 

Scrap Tamers Club.  Yea!  Now it’s done! 

 And I’m ahead!  

 So, do you want to join me?  Let me know.

Oh no!  Now Georgia is talking about “52 drawers”!  Maybe next year, Georgia!

Happy Quilting, Susan

Two-Color Quilt Show

It's time for another staff quilt show at Glad Creations.  Each year we get together and vote on a theme for our annual staff quilt show. We decided on Two-Color quilts for this year's show.

It's always a fun process as each of us decides what quilt to make for the show. This year as we started planning our quilts and sharing our ideas, we found that when we voted on this theme, we had many different definitions of  Two-Color quilts.  Some of us pictured a quilt made with only two fabrics - one solid or print for the pattern with a contrasting background.  Others saw their quilts with the contrast of one color for the pattern against a contrasting background but with a variety of prints for each.  Then there were those of us who selected 2 colors but selected a range of values in each of the colors to create their pattern.

So, as happens with a group of creative people, we threw out the rules.  We decided that we should each make our quilt based on our own vision of what a Two-Color Quilt should be.  It turned out to be a great show with lots of fun variety.

The quilts will be on display at Glad Creations through January 11, 2014.  Stop by and check them out! If you aren't able to get in to the shop to see that quilts, enjoy our slide show.

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