Easter Egg Table Runner

It's that time of year again. I'm sure I've posted this picture before but I just can't resist showing it again.

I few years ago my sister (who lives in Marietta, GA) was visiting my niece in San Francisco so since I live in So. Cal. I headed up for a visit. Whenever we get together we like to do something crafty. This time we decided to make Easter Egg table runners. Off we went to JoAnn's and bought a variety of Easter fabrics. We each made one.

So now every time I put mine out on my dinning room table I think of my sister Melinda and my niece Christina.

Another Magical Slice and Dice

I recently received this email from Rebecca McClure. Rebecca is a quilt teacher at Sewing Arts Center, in Santa Monica, California.

"Hi Robin,
Here's my version of the quilt. Like I said, it's a bit different than some, but has been well received on this end. Even my husband likes it, and he never comments on anything! I showed him your technique as he's usually facinated by the geometry and technical side of these things, and he was quite impressed. I used an Australian Aboriginal print as my focus fabric.
Cool stuff happens...
Rebecca McClure"

Rebecca let me know that she will be teaching "Magical Slice and Dice" at Sewing Arts Center. If you live on the west side of Los Angeles, you might want to visit their website or stop by the store and see Rebecca's quilt that is on display.

Thanks for sharing. I love to see what people have done with my patterns. If you have a picture or story you'd like to share, please send it to me at robin@twowackywomen.com .

Hugs,

Selvage Project

For some time now I've been reading with envy about all the great projects made using only selvages. Karen Griska has a wonderful blog highlighting all these super projects. People are so creative in what they make.

Well today I decided to take a little time to make something just for me. I have a lot going on so it needed to be something easy but fun and rewarding. Here's what I came up with. I can hardly wait to start using it.

Here's the front of my "Not Just Another Note Pad"

Here's the back of the note pad cover

and a peek inside.

Thank you Karen for the inspiration.

Sewing Day

I had a wonderful day sewing with members of my friendship group, the Wednesday Wacko's. We meet every Wednesday night to sew, visit and enjoy each others company but today we got to sew all day long. We are fortunate to be able to use a class room at a local high school where the husband of one of the Wacko's works.

Last week I blogged about a new sample I was making using my "Magnolia Lane" pattern but using an Alexander Henry fabric called Abbey Road.

Today was finally my day to make the quilt top. Here's the completed top. Doesn't it look great?

And, a close-up of some of the blocks. This is a very easy two fabric quilt that utilizes my Magical Slice and Dice method. If you're interested in the pattern, it can be purchased at www.twowackywomen.com

Have a great week.

It's Arrived

Look what the mail carrier delivered yesterday. My sister, Melinda, mailed this to me a while back but encountered some difficulty. Read all about it here.

I was really excited to open it. Here's what was inside.

What you have to know is that my daughter, Shelli, is a huge Lucy fan. To this day I can still hear "I Love Lucy" playing on the TV in the background when I call her at home. I have no idea how many times she's seen each show but she knows them by heart. She is able to tell if they even cut out one minute out of an episode. Obviously my whole family knows, so it's no surprise that her Aunt Melinda would make this for her. She hasn't seen it yet but I know she will love it.

The other treasure in the envelope was an ORT jar. For the life of me I can't remember what ORT stands for but it is sure cute. If you'd like to read about it or get the tutorial on how to make one visit my sister blog or directly to the tutorial.

Thank you Melinda. I love everything and especially you.

Magical Kids Play

Yesterday after posting the pictures I received from Susan Chandler I found out that I was missing the picture of the completed train quilt. Susan emailed it to me and here it is. It came out very cute.
Some little boy is going to love it.

Susan Chandler's Magical Kids Play

Last fall I was invited to speak and teach at two guilds along the beautiful Central Coast of California. It was was so much fun visiting with each of the guilds and teaching a combined workshop.

This was the pattern that was planned for the workshop.

A few of the members choose to make "Magical Kids Play".

The workshop project was my pattern, Magical Slice and Dice. Most of the students made a Magical Slice and Dice but a few wanted to make something smaller, so for those guild members I gave them Magical Kids Play to make instead. We had a wonderful full day of sewing, chatting and just having a great time.

Susan Chandler is a very active member in both guilds as well as several others in the area. Susan joined me and several other guild members for dinner in Morro Bay and then following dinner strolled with me and told me a lot about the area. It was a delight to spend time with her. A few days ago she sent me an email and included pictures of a couple of the quilts she made using my Magical Kids Play pattern. According to Susan, they will be in the 7 sisters quilt show April 25 & 26 in San Luis Obispo, California.

This one is made with wine fabric. Great job Susan!

Both of these are made using a kid's train fabric. Very Cute.

If you'd like me to visit your guild email me robin@twowackywomen.com .

Steam vs. no Steam

There are few things more controversial in quilting than steam vs. no steam. Oh sure, quilters argue about a lot of things like wash vs. no wash or starch vs. no starch but for now I'll just stick with the steam vs. no steam issue.

For the record I, steam, starch and I don't pre-wash. In fact I LOVE steam. My dream is to at some point get an iron with a steam tank, but in the mean time I have a Rowenta iron that does a terrific job, I love it. It has a nice large water reservoir but you still have to fill the darn thing more often than I'd like.

While visiting a restaurant supply store I came across plastic squeeze bottles. They had a variety of sizes but when I saw this huge 32 oz. big mama, I knew I was on to something. For the grand total of $2.10 my big mama squeeze bottle came home with me. It's now filled with water, sitting next to my iron, just waiting to be used.

I love it!

Another Day, Another Sample

Today I get to start another sample. Sometimes I feel that my quilting life is one big sample after another. This time I'm making my Magnolia Lane quilt pattern but using a wonderful Alexander Henry fabric "Abbey Road". As much as I sometimes drag my feet making a sample, in this case I can hardly wait to see how this one turns out.

This is just a two fabric quilt. Here's the fabrics I'll be using.

Check back to see my progress.

Devine Nine Beach Umbrella Quilt Top

Today was a great day to sew. I started off squaring up all my wonky blocks from yesterday. I them arrange them, sewed them together and added a couple of borders. This is a quilt that I can usually make in a day but this time I manged to spread it over two. My husband thinks it's a great "girl" quilt.

Here's a picture of the completed top:


Here you can see a close-up of the quilt. I think the colors show much better in the close-up. Can you see the great striped inner border? I'm going to repeat it once again in the binding.



I picked up a great backing for it so now I need to piece it together and get everything ready to be quilted.

Red, White and Blue Block

I was asked to make a Red, White and Blue block for a friend. Today I finally got back in my sewing studio and figured I better make it before much more time passes. After much pondering on what block to make, I decided to take a look at Quilterscache for inspiration. I can't believe how many blocks they have. I finally settle on this one, Crossroads 2. I love the way it came out, hope the friend does too.

Beach Umbrella Quilt Update

It's taken me a week to get back to working on my Devine Nine Beach Umbrella Quilt, but I'm finally back at it. Today I stacked and slashed my blocks. Here's just two of them. Before trimming them up they're all wonky looking. Tomorrow I'll trim them all the same size and start assembling the quilt. This is a sample of a quilt kit that Two Wacky Women will have to sell. I think it's going to be real cute.