Megan's Quilt

I just finished the last stitches on a commissioned quilt for my friend Megan.
It's a really sweet idea - a 'tree of life' quilt with each leaf having a family member's signature on it. All that's left is the label.

Half-Square Triangle Shortcut

Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.com just released her 5th step in her recent mystery "Roll Roll Cotton Boll" and we are now faced with 600 HSTs!!!!!!! Oh and by the way they are 1.5" finished.
Here's an easy way to do 8 at once:

Unfinished Size HST Needed:

If you need a different size, feel free to email me.

For RRCB you will use 4.5" squares.
Draw two lines diagonally, and one horizontally, and one vertically.


Your half line will be at the 2.25" mark.

With your two squares Right Sides Together, stitch a SCANT 1/4" from each diagonal line.


Cut on your diagonal lines.


Then cut on your other drawn lines, Vertically, and horizontally  (cut the previous cuts in half)


Trim dog ears, Press and Voila!

This quilt is now available in Bonnie Hunter's Quilting book called "String Fling"

Update

Hello people of blog land. To my few but faithful followers I just wanted to pop in to say hello. I believe today I can say I am fully recovered from the flu. I was so sick all last week, I couldn't even quilt! Yes, usually no matter how sick I am I can still muster up the strength to do something quilt-related. I guess I did read a lot of quilt-y material ie forums, blogs, yahoo lists etc.
My PRE-Christmas TO-DO list: (with now even less time to spare after the wasted sick week)
1) Megan's Quilt - a commissioned project (shh no telling till it's complete ; )
2) Grey Study Quilt #2 - Finish FMQing, Bind, Wash, and Label
3) Grey Study Quilt #3 - Baste, Quilt, Bind, Wash, and Label
4) Grey Study Quilt #1 - Wash, and Label
5) Harmony Quilt - Backing, Batting, Sandwich, Quilt, Bind, Wash, Label
6) Country Christmas - (fatcatpatterns.com/Christmas Row-by-Row quilt) Decorate, Hanging Sleeve, and Label.

Well, that's it! and about what.. 12 days to get'r'done? geezer.

I have no quilt photos to update you with, so I"ll leave ya with this. (I'm a visual person.. I also like lots of parenthesis lol)

... Remember Jaime's Quilt? Well the lil dear went and sent me a thank-you gift. I got it in the mail a couple days ago. and boy did it lift my sickly spirits! 3 GORGEOUS knitted boggins and an adorable little purse. Her and her husband sell their wares and they are soooo beautiful and such good quality.
I think DH and I look rather precious in them wouldn't ya think? = D toot toot!

MISO OSO sick SOUP

MISO OSO SOUP's name is derived from a facebook conversation I recently had with my friend Ang Craddock. After Ang read the ingredient list she replied "whoa that sounds ohh so strong." The name for my new flu soup concoction was born!

MISO OSO 'sick' SOUP

***Makes 10 - 2cup servings (approximate)

Ingredients
1T - Margarine (Country Crock)
2C - diced potatoes (2 small)
1medium - onion
2 T Tony's (divided/to taste)
10 Cups water
8 Bouillon cubes(divided) (can substitute fresh or packaged broth or consumme if desired)
1 or 2 jalepenos (or habeneros, or banana peppers if you don't like heat)
1/2 head cabbage (medium)
2C beans (lima, or great northern, or another white bean)
**if using frozen lima beans add to soup with 1st addition of liquid.

Prepare:
1 Large or 2 small potatoes - peel and cube
1 medium onion quartered and thinly sliced
Cook Potatoes and Onion in 1T margarine until soft/beginning to brown.
Add 6C water and 5 chicken bouillon cubes, bring to boil.
Thinly Slice Cabbage into 1-2" strips. Chop Hot Peppers, add to boiling soup.
Add 2 cans lima beans, 3 additional Bouillon cubes and 4 cups water.
Bring to Boil. Cook until Cabbage is tender.
Add additional 1T Tony's to taste.

This soup is intended for those who are sick with a cold or the flu. It has a sort of bland taste, but is high in nutrients, healthy proteins, and the spiciness is soothing to sore throats. The blend of spices will give you a short-lived and happy/euphoric energy. MISO OSO "sick" SOUP has magical healing properites. ; ) Try it!!
This soup is a good base for just about any vegetable or meat. I have added leftover shredded chicken, celery, carrots, and even crackers, noodles and/or rice for more fullness.
Tony Chachere's Seasoning is an amazing product that provides an insane amount of heat without adding TOO MUCH salt taste. If you're not a fan of heat/spicy, then you might want to reduce the Tony's significantly. I would start with 1teasp Tony's when you add the potatoes and then add additional Tony's to your taste from there.
Remember that when you are sick, Tony's has magical properties to heal sore throats and congested noses.
Today, as I was writing/reviewing this recipe, I was unable to talk before I had a few spoonfulls of hot MISO OSO. Miraculously I was vocally able to respond to a few questions from my husband for a short while after a bowl of it. All day I have been lethargic and lifeless, with an insane sore throat, congestion and stuffiness in my head and chest. After one taste of MISO OSO and my throat instantly felt soothed and pain-free. After eating a whole bowl I had a sudden burst of energy and I was able to accomplish some much needed cleaning for the day. Although this burst may be short lived, it is always greatly appreciated and well worth it. I hope this soup can have the same healing properties for you as it has on my family. Enjoy
Katie Wiseman
www.KatiesQuiltsandCrafts.blogspot.com
**I am no affiliation with Tony Chachere's Seasoning.. just love the stuff!

Joann's Veteran's Day Sale

*Warm & Natural Queen Size 100% cotton batting $12.99(half off)
*120 long pearl quilter's Pins
*Assorted Cheater Needles (I keep losing mine - I was down to 1)
*Assorted Betweens (my old ones kept breaking in half!! maybe because they were like 50 years old.. lol.. I had to stock up for my Outer Banks travel project
*Schmetz Universal machine needles, 80/12
*200 assorted Safety Pins

All of the notions were buy one get one free AND I was able to use a 40% off one-item coupon as well as a 10% off sale items coupon. I thought I was going to have to charge something.. because I only had $22 in bills and a bunch of change.. well, I had to dig in the change because the total came to $22.98.
Spent $23 and saved $23.

Oh.. and see those white boards underneath my new stuff??? My womderful father went with me to Lowe's to help me pick out wood for Sharon Schamber's method of basting. I have a bunch of tops I want to get quilted this week. The last quilt was not smooth enough for my taste, and I have to try something else. I explained the method to my dad and even let him watch the video's Sharon has on youtube and her website.. but between my dad and me.. we had maybe half a clue.
He did insist on one thing.. and that was that the wood needed to be a good quality so it wouldn't bend or distort. He also insisted that it be finished (sanded and stained/painted.)
I picked up the board today and he had them finished and they are beautiful!! I'm so lucky to have such a handy-dad.



Stay tuned (HA) - I am going to document the progress of basting with boards ala Sharon Schambers. Her video/s are great, but the biggest complaint I hear from quilters is that the quilt she is basting is so small you can't get a good idea of how this method will work with a larger quilt... and also that she uses the same color of dyed fabric to represent the top and back. I have the general idea though, and hopefully we can learn how to use the basting boards together. I Probably won't take any video, but I'll have lots of pictures (as usual,) we'll see.

Quilter's Cramp

I AM IN SO MUCH PAIN TODAY!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday I finished one of the quilts in the grey study series. This one is blue-ish greys and it's about a Twin-sized (62"x74")quilt.


I FMQ'd the whole thing. This is the 1st time I've done a large, bed-sized quilt all in FMQ and needless to say I am in severe pain!
***********When they tell you to take lots of breaks, drink lots of water, stretch, keep your shoulders and jaw relaxed, Don't quilt longer than 10 minutes at a time and break longer than you quilt you NEED TO LISTEN!!!!!!!! ********
Take it from me! I am now suffering because of it. I read these suggestions and warnings in each and every quilting book and website I've ever read - I thought these warnings were for "old people" LOL.

Well anyway I think for my first try at free-motion quilting a large quilt it turned out quite nicely. Except for couple of knots on the back everything went relatively smoothly. I did a variety of meander/stipple quilting in all the grey areas. In the colored area I "tried" to quilt a straight line 1/4" inside the edges with the darning foot. I used high-loft batting so it has a lovely puffy look to it. I have to say that using a darning foot or free-motion style quilting is much nicer than what I used to do.... which is use a walking foot and I would have to squeeze the whole quilt around and around each block. THAT was annoying. My 'straight' lines aren't that straight but I'll do better next time.
Here's some other photos of my finished quilt:





Have any of you had this problem - severe pain a couple days after free-motion quilting a large quilt on a domestic sewing machine?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Grey Study

I'm playing with different shades of grey together with Brights I obtained from a recent Brights 2.5" strip swap. My goal was to complete 3 similar quilts all using the brights but each having different greys. As usual, I grossly underestimate the time it takes to finish a quilt. Borders add a whole day and if you want to do any type of decent quilting you have to add a good 10 hours to that as well. Also piecing the backing adds a lot of time.. I like the look of pieced backing as well as the utilitarian aspect of it. I realized around Wednesday I would'nt be able to complete 3 even if I never slept - but thought two could be do-able without borders.

My goal now is to complete the 3 by next weekend - I want them all hanging together at the flea market when I go -

Grey Study #1 - Blue/Greys: Sandwiched, basted and half-quilted.

Grey Study #2 - Black and White: Top and Back pieced whole

Grey Study $3 - Grey Greys: Strips cut only

This shows part of the front of the quilt that's quilted - I did some sitppling and some other random stuff in the grey parts of the quilt - that's what I had in mind when I was piecing this together - Now It looks like I'm going to have to go back and at least do a little quilting in the colored section too, it's not pufffing up evenly. It's still fun nonetheless!

What the back looks like so far..

Thanksgiving Travel Project

For Thanksgiving, I'm going to the Outer Banks. I really enjoyed my last hand project. It was a hexagon/Grandmother's Flower Garden pattern and I used scraps of Aunt Jane fabrics. It was a very small wallhanging so it only took me a couple months. It's layered and basted and ready to be quilted.. but I'm debating on whether to hand quilt it (something totally new) or just machine quilt it (and be done!)
In the mean time I wanted a new hand project and since I enjoyed English Paper Piecing so much I wanted to try something like that again. I want to try the pieces to be a little bigger this time and I wanted to try a different shape or shapes I also wanted to incorporate my hand-dyes and I have been looking at photos of 3D quilts on line. Most of the optical illusion or 3-dimensional quilts require use of the dreaded "Y-Seam" thus perfect for hand-piecing.
I saved a copy of Jinny Beyer's "3rd dimension optical illusion" quilt pattern that looks like a cube inside of a cube.

I'm going with this pattern and size. Instead of using the 18 fabrics and 3 seperate color combos for the "blocks" like Jinny, I'm going to make each block different. This is a great opportunity to showcase my hand-dyed fabrics I've accumilated over the years. = D One thing I have learned from past experiences is that when I make a very large quilt or do any hand project I MUST have fabrics in a lot of different colors or I lose interest, and a UFO is born. LOL. I really think with the color palette I've chosen, I won't lose interest and hopefully enjoy the whole piecing process.
Here's some pics of all my pretty dyed fabrics and on the table they are all roughly cut into shapes in preperation for English Paper piecing. I rough cut this time because last time when I cut the hexies exactly 1/4" larger than the template, it seemed like I didn't have enough room. There was enough room, but BARELY enough which was annoying, so this time I'm using pieces a bit bigger. I'll make the templates or paper pieces EXACT!



Okay, so I think this is going to be super cute and colorful and I can't wait to get started!




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Family Vacation at the Outer Banks:


Along with starting a new English Paper Piecing project, I'm also excited about going out of town for Thanksgiving. My mom and all her kids and my Mom's Brother, his wife and their two kids will be going to the Outer Banks for Thanksgiving this year.
I really look forward to these get-togethers because of all the music. Here's a run-down of who does what. = D




*Mom, Terrie Bowen - sings and plays a little piano
--*Mom's husband, Mark Bowen - listens and enjoys ; )
-*Oldest daughter, me Katie Wiseman - Sings and plays a little guitar
---*My husband, James Wiseman - Plays fantastic rhythm guitar and sings.
-*Middle daughter, my sister Emily Hager - Sings and plays piano beautifully
-*Youngest son, my brother Curtis Hager - Just graduated from Berklee College of music with a film scoring degree. He is excellent at keyboard and guitar but can pretty much play any instrument in his path and also has composed lost of songs and has had many jobs arranging musical numbers for bands and choirs. He's also an amazing singer.
*Mom's brother, my uncle Alan Daubenspeck - Uncle Alan has a music degree, has been in bands most of his life, has composed music, sings beautifully (Sounds like Billy Joel but better) He specializes in keys, guitar and horn - but he also can play just about any instrument that comes in his path. He also teaches music.
-*Alan's wife, my aunt, Debra Daubenspeck - Debra is an amazing singer and is a beautiful person inside and out. She's even recruited ME to sing with their band a time or two.
--*Oldest Son, my cousin, Brandon Daubenspeck - a guitar player, specializes in electric I think.
--*Youngest Daughter, my cousin, Bridget Daubenspeck - Bridget is beautiful, and although I'm not sure if she's ventured into the family hobbies yet, she definately makes us all look good!




Needless to say it is one talented showdown when we get together. Only family by blood or marriage is 'allowed' at our family vacations and It makes my heart almost burst to think about my husband pickin and grinnin along with the rest of my family for the 1st time. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful, handsome, loving, hard-working and talented husband! I can't wait to show him off with the rest of the musical family.



To top it all off, the house we're renting at the beach allows dogs. I get to bring my sweet baby Louie the Dachshund and the Daubenspeck's are bringing their new German Shepperd Roxy I haven't met her yet but she looks so sweet and I can't wait. Louie's never been to the beach- I've been showing him pictures of dog's on the beach.. ya know to get him excited to go on the 9-hour car ride. HAHA

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Jaime's project Finished



To end things off here - I wanted to show you a pic of my recently finished project "Jaime's Quilt" It is an original design made specifically for my friend Jaime (read more about this on my last post.) It's going to be hard to part with this - I love it!

Jaime's Quilt

I'm making a quilt for my friend Jaime for her birthday which is in December. She wanted a quilt or quilt block that she could frame. A quilt is not a quilt until it's quilted so I'm insisting I quilt it.

She chose her colors: Brick Red, Sage, Gold, cornflower Blue (which I didn't use,) tan, cream, khaki. I am shopping my stash and this is what I came up with.

I then auditioned background fabric:




Before I show you anything else - you should see what Jaime actually picked out herself. Her and her husband googled framed quilt images and they really liked this one so this is what I've been working with sort:

I then decided to mix up the diamonds:



Then I wanted to add a little "zing" to the quilt - a little romance, since they are sorta newlyweds and this is a housewarming gift as well. I played around with some applique pieces. Originally I cut the flowers with the idea to put them in the 4 corners and the hearts on the sides. They weren't quite big enough so I switched them, added some leaves and made 4 additional hearts and appliqued them down. This is what I have now:


Lookin pretty cute for my own design I think!!!
I didn't even use a pattern.. TOOT TOOT!
Now I'm checking out Flickr for quilting designs - there's one with a leaf appliqued in each diamond that is just breathtaking - but I think i'm going to do a variation of that - a simplified one-line design and do some tight stippling around the applique then a cable or something around the border. I'll keep you posted.