All Decked Out: March 2012

Pins and Needles

Saturday, March 24, 2012 3 Comments »

Happy Cottage Quilter posted a link to the Riley Blake website, where a tutorial for a new (and very nifty) pincushion is posted every Friday. I checked it out, and those pincusions are way cute -- you ought to check it out too! All of the tutorials have scads of pictures, and can be downloaded as PDFs.

And there's a tute for the CHICKEN PINCUSHION I love (cackle cackle)!

Riley Blake Pincushion Tutorials

Triangle Magic

Friday, March 23, 2012 1 Comment »

I do not advertise products, and heaven knows I'm not on the Blogger with Sponsored Producst list. I am, however, somewhat shameless about passing on information about products that I think are worthwhile and have made a positive inpact on my quilting. Triangle Magic, by Quilt Pro, is one of those products.

This little software program allows you to print out triangle paper on your own printer for HSTs in finished sizes from 1" to 7", in eighth inch increments. They are having a sale now; the program normally costing $19.95 is now $14.95. If you like using triangle paper to make perfect HSTs, this represents a significant savings over buying individual packs of papers. In addition, you can print out one sheet, for making just a few HSTs, or scads of them.

If you have not used triangle papers before, you might want to give it a try. Yes, you will have the extra step of ripping the paper off the back of the sewn triangles, but the resulting HSTs are perfect -- no wonkiness and no stretching from having sewn on a bias edge. I would not recommend them if you need to sew just one or two HSTs, but if you need to sew multiples, they are a great way to go. And with this program, you don't need to hunt through your collection of assorted triangle papers only to find that you have 20 different sizes EXCEPT the size you need right then; you just go to your printer and print out exactly what you need.

The triangle grids can be printed on standard computer paper, using a shortened stitch length (makes tearing the papers much easier) but I prefer newsprint, which is available from a variety of souces, including this one. The newsprint is thinner, and makes the tearing-off process even easier. Quilt Pro also has a similar program for quarter square triangles, which I have not tried. Some of their other products include foundation piecing software and add-ons for Carol Doak's foundation pieced blocks.

Here is that link again: Quilt Pro Triangle Magic. Click on the menu items at the bottom of the web page to see full explanations of what the program is and how it works. If you end up purchasing the program, let me know how you like it!

I need your expert advice...

Sunday, March 18, 2012 2 Comments »

I am working on a king-sized quilt. It need it to be generously sized, not skimpy. So how big should it be? What is a good proportion for an inner and outer border?

Catching Up

Saturday, March 17, 2012 3 Comments »

Well, now that I have my new computer, I realize why I was so frustrated editing pictures for posting on my old one. My old CPU, easily 10 years old, had a whopping 8 meg of RAM, and a 500 meg hard drive -- it was virtually top-of-the-line when I bought it, but could no longer handle the demands I made of it. The new machine is more middle-of-the-road, but has 8 GIG of RAM, and a 1 TB hard drive. Yowzer.

So now I will begin catching up.

First in line is the 3rd Jelly Roll 1600 quilt that I did for Christmas. I gave my neice and my nephew's fiance batik jelly roll quilts for Christmas. By the time I realized that my step-nephew's fiance would be joining us for Christmas as well; I was only able to get the top done for hers. I finally pieced the back & sent it off to my FLLQ (Friendly Local Longarm Quilter).

And here it is! It's made with a Bali Pop, plus some random batik scaps from my scrap bin, and is named Chablis and Merlot in honor of the Rebecca's love of wine.

I gave it to her today at the end of her bridal shower, and she loved it. Now I need to get cracking on their wedding quilt. I'm trying something different this time -- a kaliedescope quilt. Thanks to Sue, at SuBee Sews for giving me the idea. You need to check out some of the kaliedescope quilts she has made.

Leprechauns and Potatoes

Friday, March 16, 2012 2 Comments »

My daughter-in-law, Jamie, makes sure her children remember the Irish heritage from her side of the family. Aren't these Deck-rechauns the cutest? Baby Owen isn't quite sure what to make of it all.

I would not be surprised if some leprechauns make a visit to their house tonight to create a little mischief. Last year they opened the kitchen cabinets, put the cooking pots in the floor, turned the breakfast room chairs upside down, and even left a few "gold coins". Those leprechauns are really tricky!

My family, on the other hand, is Pennsylvania German. I'm going to make some Am-rish Potatoes tomorrow to eat for dessert after our corned beef dinner. What are Am-rish Potatoes, you ask? They are candy Irish Potatoes, but made the way our Pennsylvania Amish make potato candy. Try it with your kids or grandkids -- it's tons of fun, and it's neat to see them turn left-over mashed potatoes into a yummy, sweet treat.

Patti's Am-rish Potatoes

1/4 cup mashed potatoes (made without milk, butter or seasonings)

3 1/2 cups sifted confectioners sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup shredded coconut

1 tablespoon butter

Cinnamon

Put potatoes in large bowl. Add sugar, vanilla extract, coconut and butter. Mix well. Knead several minutes, adding more sugar, if necessary, to make a stiff dough. Tear off a teaspoon of dough and form into a small log/potato shapes. Roll in cinnamon. Lay on wax paper for 1 hour to dry. Store in an airtight container.