savoy060

Hi everyone -- thanks for visiting today! I'm so excited to announce and celebrate the creation of my new design, pattern, and quilting company "Redbird Quilt Co."  Yep, this little business is getting off the ground and for the next month we're going to celebrate this and some other fun milestones with weekly giveaways!!   Woohoo!  I have some awesome and generous giveaway sponsors lined up including Aurifil , Sew It Is Quilt Shop and Bear Creek Quilting Company just to name a few!!  This week lets talk about milestones and the creation of Redbird Quilt Co!! I've been sewing since I was in high school but only began the quilting journey a few years ago when my sister Janet invited me to join her in a LQS block of the month.  Well -- the completion of that BOM, along with many hours of guidance and love from my sister Janet -- and I was hooked on quilting!! Now, 6+ years later, I've learned the joys of free motion quilting, needle turn and wool applique, ...

Greetings!  I'm happy to report that the 7" x 7" mini quilt is quilted, labeled, and delivered to the Council of the Arts for their upcoming fundraiser.   You can read more about the mini art challenge here.   I used Aurifil Mako Cotton 50Wt thread Color #2000 to free motion quilt the background.   Have I mentioned how much I *love* Aurifil thread ?  Swoon!! I wanted to share a few steps of the process.  Once I completed the bird and flower stitching, I made a paper template to determine where I should make the 8" cut for a no binding finish.   The paper template allows you to "fussy cut" the quilt front.  The inside border frame represents the desired 7" finished block size.  The outside frame is 8" wide and high.  I planned the 8" square to allow for a wider seam allowance (1/3" seam vs 1/4").  I also accounted for a little shrinkage from quilting. After marking the outer corners of the frame I used a rotary cutter...

Hello everyone!    A quick and simple share for this Windy Wednesday. I'm stitching away a 7" x 7" mini quilt to be donated to our local Council on the Arts for their 2nd annual "Artfully Squared" event.  The council collects and display hundreds of 7" x 7" pieces of art from local artists.  The work is on display for the month of April and each piece is available to purchase for $20.  All proceeds benefit the Arts Council.  It's a great event and I'm excited to participate this year -- just need to add some quilting to this "little" guy... One very exciting thing to note on this stitchery is the THREAD!!  ... Thanks to the lovely bunch of coconuts {wink} at Aurifil Threads I had my hand at using their 28wt thread to stitch the bird and the stems.  Oh what a JOY!!..   I used a double strand of Aurifil Mako Cotton 28Wt to blanket stitch the wren and stems by hand and I enjoyed every stitch of it.  The thread glides through fa...

Morning everyone!  Top of the day to you? ...or maybe you had one too many green beers yesterday? {wink, wink} I'm joining in the fun with Val at Val's Quilting Studio today where she hosts two different linky parties to share your old quilting posts. Themes in Val's linky party this week are "Animals" and "Awards". I've never really posted about them but I did receive awards once for two of my favorite quilts. Both ribbons were awarded at a local Quilt Show hosted by the "Common Threads Quilt Guild" in upstate NY.   It was actually the first time I'd ever entered anything into a show - I was very honored to win these ribbons!! Even more exciting was at the same quilt show my granddaughter Emily won 1st place in the Juvenile Category for her first ever quilt!!.  Now that is something to crow about!  Below is a wool on wool applique quilt, "Folk Art Melody" by Lori Smith - and it took 1st place in the "1st Time Entrant...

Greetings !  I've a new tutorial to share with you on this National/Worldwide Quilt Weekend.... But first....   Many thanks to the gracious ladies of the New Quilters on the Block Guild in Candor, NY for hosting my "Show and Tell" this weekend!    This lovely and talented group of women meet twice a month to share their love of sewing with one another.  They have semi-annual retreats, regular classes, and you can tell they all love to sew.  Lots of smiles, yummy snacks, and plenty of eye candy at this very relaxed meeting.  It was a special time -- Thank you ladies for inviting me to share my love of quilting with you!  I had a fantastic time. Inquiring minds want to know...  Do you struggle with getting labels on your newly completed quilts?   I sure do... I write one by hand, grumble because my handwriting is sloppy and/or the pen ink smeared, my lines weren't straight, there wasn't enough room for all the details... YOU name...

I wanted to share a bit more progress on the Quilting the Garden "Summer Cottage" block. If you're just tuning in, you can see more of my "Quilting the Garden" by Blackbird Designs needle turn applique blocks here , here and here . Also, if you're new to needle turn applique, please visit my " Teardrops of Love - a needle turn applique tutorial " on my blog header or sidebar.  Teardrops of Love is a multi-part needle turn applique tutorial - you'll learn about tools, prep, turning inside and outside points and much more!! Here is where I left off last post: Since then the fascia has been traced on freezer paper (Love that Chelsea Boutique fabric). Cut out, marked with a Sew Line pencil and scored with a Hera Marker: Layered over the house and roof -- aligning with the use of an overlay as shown below: Basted:   And stitched! Door, windows and window box fabric outlined: Door attached and windows positioned: Struggling with pin holes in the fab...