Tag Archives: quilting

Tu-Na Quilts: Art with Fabric Blog Hop Starting Monday

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The Art with Fabric Blog Hop is starting Monday. My day to post my project is Wednesday so please stop on back to see it then.

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You might be wondering what this blog hop is all about. Participating bloggers were invited to produce a quilted/sewn project using a well-known or lesser known work of art as our inspiration piece. You can see the last several years entries here.

The theme this fall was Mother Earth. So what did Tu-Na decide to make for her quilted art piece. You’ll just have to return on Wednesday to see.

Here’s the schedule:

Fall 2017 schedule

Monday, October 9th, 2017

 
Tuesday, October 10th, 2017
 
Wednesday, October 11th, 2017 
Thursday, October 12th, 2017 
Friday, October 13th, 2017 

What I Learned Today:

  1. There will be no apple cider days, no aroma of drying apples in our house for weeks, no fresh apple pie, and no fresh applesauce this year. Our apples did not survive the three hail storms we had this summer. There are not many apples on the trees. The few that did survive are very small, misshapen, dented, scabbed, and have other living things inside.
  2. This will be a busy blog week with two posts for the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long scheduled for Tuesday and the Art with Fiber post on Wednesday. I have not forgotten about the loot posts or the one about The Quilted Ceiling. They will be coming. Maybe even this week!

Question:

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

Tu-Na Quilts: I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Block 6 Released Today

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♪ Angels we have heard on high

Sweetly singing o’er the plain

And the mountains in reply

Echoing their joyous strains ♪

 

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Welcome to the Block 6 Release Party Day of the I Wish You A Merry Quilt-A-Long.

Here she is sweetly singing ♪ Gloria in excelsis Deo. ♪

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I’ve personalized this pattern a wee bit. She’s got a new “do” and some eyelet edging on her gown,  She’s also sporting a halo.

You’ll find this pattern at Sandra Healy Designs here. All the patterns are free until January 16th, 2018. So don’t delay, download your pattern today. Sandra’s also offering a 20% discount in her shop at Sandra Healy Designs until October 25, 2017. Just use the coupon code MERRYQAL20 when you check-out.

I learned a few tricks to make this angel a bit easier to put together.

  1. I don’t have a lightbox. In order to trace the applique portion of the pattern, I taped it on a window and then held the Lite Steam a Seam 2 over it with the yellow lines side facing me. Then I held the Steam a Seam over the paper and just traced the lines moving the Steam a Seam as needed for the next part of the applique. Make sure to leave about half an inch of space between each part.tunaquilts 2a

2. This pattern has lots of applique pieces with rounded edges. To make the rounded edges nice and smooth, I turned my prepared fabric applique piece while I cut holding the scissors in one place. This helps to make the rounded edges round and make nice crisp lines. It does make a difference. It is so much better than holding the fabric/paper still and moving the scissors cutting up and down. Having a really sharp scissors also helps. I also have a scissors that I only use for applique. The blades do get gummy and I clean them off with rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab.

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O.k. This wasn’t the best pic to highlight this point. But it’s really hard to hold the scissors in one hand, and the fabric in the other hand, and the camera in another hand when I only have two hands!

3. I chose NOT to use a stabilizer this time. I used one when I made the ornaments and look what happened here. I’m still picking out the remnants. I think this angel block turned out well.  

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This looks so much better than the back of the ornament block. but that one will look nice, too, once I finish picking out all the paper. The block pulled in just slightly on the bottom but still finished very close to 12.5″. This was probably because of the bias tape edge of the eyelet lace trim. After thinking about it, I could have trimmed this bias edge away in the back before stitching it down. 

4. You can also see in the pic above that I used a piece of lightweight iron-on interfacing on the underside of the face. this is so that the embroidery thread French knots do not pull through the front.

5. I also found that the sewing machine needle will get gummy from the Steam a Seam although the package says it doesn’t. To remedy this, either clean off your needle when done with rubbing alcohol or use a needle that you save just for applique.

6. Finally, I encourage you to personalize your block to make it unique and to reflect a bit of yourself in it. Add some fun embellishments. If you look at Sandra’s pattern, you can see that I changed the angel’s hairstyle and added a halo. I also added a bit of eyelet trim to the bottom of her gown.

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She just got back from the hairdresser and is sporting a new “do.”

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I appliqued the feet first. Then stitched down the gown leaving the trim flying free.

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I think those toes are so cute just peeking out from under the gown.

What can you do to make your angel block unique?

Here’s how all my blocks look together. The gray, red, white, and yellow are all the same fabrics in each of the blocks. They just look different in the pics.

Find info on where to get the pattern and see my Block 3-Santa’s Belt here,  Block 4-Christmas Memories (ornaments) here, and Block 5-Snowman here. I am still working on blocks one and two, so you see, there’s still time for you to join along. You can find the pattern for block one-snowflake here and block 2-tree farm here.

That cute snowman pattern that was released two weeks ago is catching the eyes of everyone! In fact, my snowman above was featured last week on Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers. That was really exciting. So, Mr. Snowman, this one’s for you!

I’ve been enjoying seeing all the unique snowmen being posted on the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Facebook page.

Grab your fabric and sew up an angel today. Then post the picture on either Sandra’s party link on her blog or on the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Facebook page or tag # #iwishyouamerryqal on Instagram to win some prizes. Remember you have until October 9th at 11.59 PM to link or post your pic to be entered to win. Thank you to Island Batik for supplying the prize for this block.

block six prizes

The next two blocks will be released on October 10th at 12:01 AM Eastern time. The remaining blocks will be released every other Tuesday with the final block set to post on December 5th giving you just enough time to finish your quilt before Christmas.

At the end of the QAL there will be a link to download a picture of your finished quilt. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must make a quilt top using all twelve of the QAL blocks by January 16th, 2018. Thank you to all these sponsors for prizes.

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Meet the rest of the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Hosts as they reveal their version of this block:

Coming soon on Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats:

Tu-Na Quilts: The Reveal of the Listed Loot

Tu-Na Quilts: The Reveal of What Was Added to the List (a.k.a. The Big Splurge)

Tu-Na Quilts: The Reveal of My 2017 Quilt MN Shop Hop Fabric and a Bit More About the Designer

Tu-Na Quilts: A Few Words from Tu-Na Helper

Tu-Na Quilts: It’s All Out of the Bag (A Wrap up of the 2017 Quilt MN Shop Hop)

Tu-Na Travels: Visiting the Quilted Ceiling in Valley City, ND

What I Learned Today:

  1. There’s a lot of creativity in the quilting world. Looking at all the blocks on the I Wish You a Merry QAL Facebook page makes me want to start about 4 more of these quilts.
  2. It’s easy to get behind even with fun things. I am behind in posting the remaining posts of the Quilt MN Shop Hop and my Valley City  Quilt Shop as I was busy preparing the post for the Blogger’s Quilt Festival. But they will be coming.

Question: Are you sewing along with us? If you aren’t, what color fabrics would you choose?

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

At this time, I have no affiliation with any of the shops, products, companies, or services that I mention here on Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats.

Linking to:

Block 6 Linky Party at Sandra Healy Designs

BOMS Away at What a Hoot Quilts

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilt

Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts

Moving It Forward Monday at Em’s Scrapbag

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River

Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

 

Tu-Na Quilts: Second Entry in Blogger’s Quilt Festival

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The Blogger’s Quilt Festival hosted by Amy’s Creative Side is a virtual Quilt Show. All you need to do is sit in your favorite chair or at your desk and flip through lots of quilts on blogs using your computer. I think the best part about this virtual show is reading more about the quilts than one would get at a live show.

bqf-f2017-e1505776492695.pngI attend several live quilt shows each year but I do enjoy reading and seeing the quilts here at the Blogger’s Quilt Festival. This is my second year I’ve entered but I’ve been enjoying this festival for a few years. My last year’s entries were the Plus Quilt and the Little House on the Prairie Quilt.

 

This is my second entry into this year’s festival. (My first entry, Quilter’s Laundry Day Mini, can be found here.)

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This baby quilt contained a lot of tiny pieces and took me awhile to make.  I changed the pattern somewhat in that I have the bear on the front of the paw patch rather than having the green sashing going through the bear. I also left out the bear paw in the square with his rump. He does have a black eye as well as a black nose. I thought I had a close-up of it.

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I designed the back to look like that bear had walked right over it. Our exchange daughter, Kerstin, helped me with the layout of these blocks. The pattern included these paw prints to be used as a border around the larger size quilts but not the baby quilt. Since my mom says “Quilts just shouldn’t be square,” I added an extra row to make it longer.

I started this bear quilt last summer during a sewing day with my mom and sisters. I had a couple of projects going on. They offered to help, sort of.

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This pattern has lots of little pieces. But that’s ok as my motto is “I dabble in small pieces.”

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My sister, Bonnie, was in charge of pressing and quality control. If she didn’t like the way I’d sewn a square, it came back to me for correction. Don’t let those two irons fool you. She only used one at a time.

Eventually, there was quite a pile that needed trimming.

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Mom thought we should stay organized. So she used my Tupperware container and filled it up. Eventually, both containers were just about full.

At the end of the day, I found the scraps shaped like this.

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I think my mom was the creative artist behind it.

We got together last summer several times for sewing and eating. Really, there was more fun than sewing going on during those days. Mostly we’d eat. My sister, Sheila, was in charge of cooking because she said she doesn’t sew.

We’d have morning coffee with treats.

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If the weather was nice, we had our coffee outside in my gazebo. Coffee time usually lasted at least an hour and sometimes longer.

Then all too soon it was time for lunch.

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On this particular quilting day, Sheila made us homemade pizza on the grill. She said it would taste similar to my much-loved Punch pizza. Yes, she’s rolling out homemade dough.

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Even my husband was enlisted to help because he’s the grill master. After all, if you want to eat around here, you have to be part of the process.

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The pizza was yummy!! It had fresh mozzarella cheese and fresh basil leaves. Grilling the crust worked. I’ll just have to write a separate post about the process.

Afternoon tea and treats followed.

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Where am I? The question really is; where is Tu-Na Helper (my husband)? If he’d been around, then I could be in the picture, too.

I had read through this MOD Bear Paw Quilt pattern for Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts offering suggestions before she published it. Then I started sewing it. The pattern can be purchased here on her pattern site if you’d like to sew one, too, and want your directions all in one spot. She also offered it as a free quilt-a-long on her blog. Find more info about the quilt-a-long tutorials and the free pattern here.

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My daughter, Emily, is showing me how the bear’s front paw should look when walking as I was questioning it. I think she makes a good bear model.

I learned a lot when making this quilt: the importance of sewing a scant 1/4″ seam especially when the block has lots of little pieces; using lots of spray starch (Best Press is my favorite) for easier cutting, sewing, and to make the seams and blocks lay flat; and asking someone to look over my work.

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That last tidbit of learning needs a bit of explaining. I had the quilt all laid out on our pool table (which serves mostly as a design table for me since it’s always covered with fabric—or folded clothes) when our exchange daughter, Kerstin, came to spend Christmas with us. She took one look and in about 30 seconds pointed out my mistake. I had turned a half-square triangle in one of the paws the wrong way. Out came the seam ripper so I could correct that mistake and then I enlisted her help to look for other errors. I was relieved when she didn’t find any more.

I gifted this quilt to my great-nephew (Bonnie’s grandson) at Christmas. It was a surprise for her, too, as I had not told her who was getting it. This little guy’s dad is a hunter. I think he liked it, too.

Quilt Stats:

Pattern: By Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts

Size: 47″ x 53″

Construction: Machine pieced by me.

Fabric: All 100% cotton from the stash, mine as well as some from my mom’s. The blue backing is cotton flannel.

Batting: Quilter’s Dream

Thread: Aurifil 50 wt.

Quilting: Machine quilted by me using my domestic sewing machine stitching horizontal wavy lines. They went much better after I drank a glass of wine.

What I Learned Today:

  1. Don’t wait so long to post about my projects as it takes longer to gather the pictures and remember the details.
  2. Tuesday is coming fast and I’d better finish that I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long block so it’ll be ready for it’s “birth day”. Are you quilting along with us?
  3. The loot posts are going to be rather embarrassing. I haven’t forgotten about them. Other things have needed to be done or written about first.
  4. I miss that old ironing board cover as I’ve replace it already. I can’t remember where I bought that one.

Question: Do you make quilts according to the pattern directions, or do you let creativity take over and change the pattern, or do you prefer to design your own? I make some using the pattern exactly and others I change. I haven’t done much designing yet.

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

At this time, I have no affiliation with any of the shops, products, companies, or services that I mention here on Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats.

Linking to:

Blogger’s Quilt Festival at Amy’s Creative Side (Thanks Amy!)

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilt

Tu-Na Quilts: Entry for Blogger’s Quilt Festival

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I’m taking time off from photographing all the loot from my 2017 Quilt MN Shop Hop to enter the Blogger’s Quilt Festival.

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I made this little mini as part of a blog hop in March.

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This mini quilt is 16.5″ square. The lighthouse quilt, between the two saguaros, is only 4 inches square and contains 47 pieces. I quilted sun rays using my domestic sewing machine.

I was even lucky to find some fabric with cacti when I was in Tucson last winter and used it for the back.

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I wanted to show off this quilt one more time because I am pretty pleased about that little mini in the mini.

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This little mini took me longer to make than the bigger mini in which I put this piece. So far, no one has linked any quilts on the Festival this small.

When I read that it was time to enter the Blogger’s Quilt Festival, I thought you might like to see it again and see how I embellished those saguaros.

3a

I added some tiny flower buttons and two barrel beads that I found at the thrift shop.

You’ll see the simple pattern that I started with, find out more info about this mini including my thoughts behind turning the clothesline posts into Saguaros, and get the links to the patterns on my post here.

If you’d like to see many great quilts on display without leaving your home, please visit Amy’s Creative Side. We’ll be linking up quilts all week so do take some time to see some quilty inspiration.

Quilt Stats:

Size: 16.5″ square

Fabric: The top is pieced with 100% cotton scraps I had on hand. The 100% cotton backing fabric was new but I don’t have the manufacturer info.

Batting: Warm and Natural

Quilted by: Myself using Aurifil thread

Welcome visitors!

If you are stopping by from the Blogger’s Quilt Festival, welcome to my journey where I blog about the things I love to do: quilting, traveling, and eating (cooking and baking actually but that didn’t sound as good in the title). I recently returned from a 10 day trip around Minnesota shopping 66 quilt shops and blogging about it. I hope you’ll check out some of those posts. The post giving you a sneak peak at all the loot I bought is here and contains links to the others which includes a featured shop each day. If you enjoyed what you read, I hope you’ll stop back again. To make it easy, please follow me; you’ll find a number of ways on my sidebar: email, WordPress, Bloglovin and Facebook.

What I Learned Today:

  1. I have a lot of loot to photograph, organize, and find places to store. It’s time to move it out of the guest room.
  2. I miss seeing this little mini. It’s at our other house.
  3. As the weather turns colder, our thoughts about our other house in Arizona increase.

Question: What have you been working on this week? I’m getting caught up with my bee blocks, working on the next block for the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long as well as making blocks one and two that I am behind on, and photographing and writing the loot posts. I also want to get a good start on my Art with Fiber project that is due in October. So much to do, so little time.

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

 

Linking to:

Quilt Blogger’s Festival at Amy’s Creative Side

Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Linky Tuesday at Free Motion by the River

Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Tu-Na Quilts: I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Block 5 Released Today

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♪ It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere I go ♪

from my sewing room to the shops I visited today!

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I visited The Quilted Ceiling in Valley City, ND today and found this cute guy. More about that quilt shop in a future post.

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Lots of snowmen greeted me in that quilt shop.

Maybe you can say the same. It’s not too late to start quilting along with us on this merry adventure. Of course, the blocks are a mystery until they’re revealed every other Tuesday.

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Sherry at Powered by Quilting presents our block for today. You can visit her blog here for a free pattern of it.

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She’s included several ways to make this pattern your own.

I had a lot of fun sewing this one. It’s cute and quick and the directions are well-written. Be sure to use a scant 1/4″ seam so you won’t be making your block too small. I find when a block has lots of small pieces, and this one surely has some tiny ones, that one runs the risk of the block ending up being too small because the seam allowance was just slightly too big. Those slightly too big seam allowances can add up and one can find themselves with a block that is smaller than one needs. Yes, that’s experience talking…more than once. I’ve also learned to make sure I cut the pieces accurately.

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I thought I’d show you the lovely back. I guess if I’d known I was really going to use this picture, I’d have given this block a light mist of Best Press (no affiliate) just because I like the way it leaves the block all crisp and neat. Sherry’s pattern gives you directions which way to press the seams. I like that! I don’t like to have to guess because usually I end up having to repress those seams.

I’ll be adding some button eyes, buttons for a mouth, a carrot button nose (I have to find one first—I’ve seen them), and some buttons down his “suit.”

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On our shop hop trip, we found lots of carrot button noses and I even remarked about not being able to find apple buttons but I could buy lots of carrot buttons. Now I wish I had bought at least one. I think I’ll be using 5 small buttons for his mouth. Sometimes, after I see a block in a picture, I can tell how it would look better. I’ll sew them on after the quilt is all quilted so that’s a few months off, yet.

The pattern also includes directions for adding some twiggy arms which I’ll embroider later. If you don’t want to embroider yours, you can make some applique twiggy arms.

Be sure to check out all the handsome snowmen (and maybe some gorgeous snowgals) that will be popping up on the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Facebook page as well as #iwishyouamerryqal on Instagram. If you are sewing one, be sure to link up at the party found on Powered by Quilting. Prizes are involved for a lucky person.

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The next block will be revealed on Sept. 26th. Can they get any cuter than these?

My block three–Santa’s Belt– see my post here and find the links to get your free pattern for it as well as links to other hosts to see their versions.

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My block four–Ornaments–see my initial post here to find the link to get your free pattern for it as well as links to other hosts to see their versions. You can see my finished block post here.

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I am still working on blocks one and two, so you see, there’s still time for you to join along.

Meet the rest of the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Hosts as they reveal their version of this block:

Coming soon on Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats:

Tu-Na Quilts: The Reveal of the Listed Loot

Tu-Na Quilts: The Reveal of What Was Added to the List (a.k.a. The Big Splurge)

Tu-Na Quilts: The Reveal of My 2017 Quilt MN Shop Hop Fabric and a Bit More About the Designer

Tu-Na Quilts: A Few Words from Tu-Na Helper

Tu-Na Quilts: It’s All Out of the Bag (A Wrap up of the 2017 Quilt MN Shop Hop)

Tu-Na Travels: Visiting the Quilted Ceiling in Valley City, ND

What I Learned Today:

  1. My eye is healing nicely according to what my eye doctor said at today’s visit. This is good and bad news. It means that all is going well. But that also means that it’s good enough to schedule the other eye surgery for the end of the month. See this post for more info about that.
  2. I had an inkling that would be the report. This morning when I woke, my green, warning, wrist band fell off on it’s own.
  3. North Dakota has some great quilt shops, too. On our long way home from the doctor, Monday, we stopped at The Quilted Ceiling in Valley City. Lucky for me, and you, the owner was there and I got a lot of interesting tidbits about that shop and some pictures that I will be sharing in a future post.

Question: Do you live in an area that gets snow? Do you play in the snow? A number of years ago, I helped my girl scout troop make snow angels on the lawn of our state capitol building. We held that world record of simultaneous snow angels for a number of years. It was fun to be a part of that record-breaking moment.

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

Linking to:

Block 5 Linky Party at Powered by Quilting

Linky Tuesday at Free Motion by the River

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

 

Meet the rest of the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Hosts as they reveal their version of this block

Tu-Na Quilts: Block 4 Completed for I Wish You A Merry Quilt-A-Long

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This block was released almost two weeks ago here as part of the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long. I finally finished it. If you remember from one of my latter posts here, I had just picked out my fabrics for this block. As what usually happens just before I cut, I changed my mind. So now I give you my completed block.

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This cute pattern is from Jennifer at The Inquiring Quilter, link above. It’s not too late to make one and link up at her site for some prizes.

I think it will go nicely with the Santa Belt that I finished.

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The reds are the same fabric even if they look different here.

This was my first attempt at doing a blanket stitch on the machine to applique those ornaments down. I think I did well for my first time.

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It turned out very flat but I see it needs another good pressing.

But I added some stabilizer to the back and away I stitched. It stayed put nicely and didn’t pull in from the sides. I was impressed….until I turned it over.

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I will have lots of picking out to do.

Coming soon:

Tu-Na Quilts: Block 5 Unveiled for the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long (Sept. 12th) Block 5 is revealed tomorrow (actually midnight eastern time. I hope you stop back to see mine. It’s a cute pattern and one I’m sure you’ll want to make…several times.

Tu-Na Quilts: The Reveal of the Listed Loot

Tu-Na Quilts: The Reveal of What Was Added to the List (a.k.a. The Big Splurge)

Tu-Na Quilts: The Reveal of My 2017 Quilt MN Shop Hop Fabric and a Bit More About the Designer

Tu-Na Quilts: A Few Words from Tu-Na Helper

Tu-Na Quilts: It’s All Out of the Bag (A Wrap up of the 2017 Quilt MN Shop Hop)

What I Learned Today:

  1. Think twice before doing a blanket stitch using stabilizer. I had no problem tearing away the stabilizer from the straight stitch side but the other side is awful to remove.
  2. It’s ok to change my mind. I am glad I changed my mind about the fabrics for this block.

Question: Do you stabilize your applique or not? I don’t like how satin stitches on an applique pulls in the fabric but maybe the blanket stitch wouldn’t have done that anyway.

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

Linking to:

I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Linky Party for Block 3 at The Inquiring Quilter

Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Moving It Forward at Em’s Scrapbag

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

Tu-Na Quilts: A Sneak Peak at my Loot from the 2017 Quilt MN Shop Hop

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Ahoy, me mateys!

Me be Cap’n Tu-Na. Me be back from our shoppin’ adventure ‘n and now me be protectin’ ‘n stowin’ th’ loot which me captured.

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Don’t get too close or ya be meetin’ up with a fat quarter bomb or a bit of spray. Oh, wait, me has to fill it first.

Shiver me timbers! Me didn’ plan t’ be a pirate again but some thin’s jus’ couldn’t be helped. Me been recuperatin’ from eye surgery that me had scheduled shortly aft we returned from thee 2017 Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop. While me been away from sewin’ ‘n readin’ n’ ‘ritin’ fer a few weeks, th’ loot has remained on this island in our guest cabin untouched from human hands, ‘cept fer mine fer an occasional pat.

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Me be a banded pirate. Thar green warning band prevents me from flyin’ or goin’ t’ places with high altitude. It says me has a gas bubble in me eye. But it’s gettin’ smaller just like it should and soon it’ll be completely gone. Me don’t has to wear the eye patch all the time, just when me eye gets tired o’ seein’.

Don’t be worried about that eye patch. Thee Eye Doctor has assured me that aft a few months, me be seein’ better than e’er. ‘N then me git t’ do it all over again with th’ other eye. Me can hardly wait. It’s quite a story ‘n me sure me be tellin’ ye more about it once it’s all over. Th’ good thing is that me has been excused from swabbin’ th’ deck around here ‘n cookin’ in th’ galley.  

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In th’ meantime, here’s a sneak peek at th’ booty. Me be aft to reveal just what’s in those bags ‘n how well me followed me list. Yo ho ho!

Coming Soon:

Tu-Na Quilts: Block 4 Completed for the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long

Tu-Na Quilts: Block 5 Unveiled for the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long (Sept. 12th)

Tu-Na Quilts: The Reveal of the Listed Loot

Tu-Na Quilts: The Reveal of What Was Added to the List (a.k.a. The Big Splurge)

Tu-Na Quilts: The Reveal of My 2017 Quilt MN Shop Hop Fabric and a Bit More About the Designer

Tu-Na Quilts: A Few Words from Tu-Na Helper

Tu-Na Quilts: It’s All Out of the Bag (A Wrap up of the 2017 Quilt MN Shop Hop)

What I Learned Today:

  1. Eye sight is very precious.
  2. Good eye sight is so important for sewing/quilting.
  3. Eye patches look so much better on men in movies than women in real life.

Question: So what’s keeping you from working on your sewing/quilting projects?

I’ve enjoyed and appreciated every comment that you’ve left. Thank you so very much. Due to having a bit of difficulty with reading and writing for now, I’ve become quite far behind in responding. I’m hoping to one day get caught up on replying to them.

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

See my other posts about the 2017 Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop:

Tu-Na Travels: ♪Over Hill. Over Dale. We Will Hit the Dusty Trail. As the Quilt Hop Goes Rolling Along….♪

Tu-Na Travels: Day One, 352 Miles, 11 Shops, Only 55 Shops Remaining

Tu-Na Travels: Day Two, 334 miles, 7 Shops, Only 48 Shops Remaining

Tu-Na Travels: Day Three, 210 Miles, 4 Shops, 44 Shops Remaining

Tu-Na Travels: Day Four, 276 Miles, 9 Shops, Only 35 Shops Remaining

Tu-Na Travels: Day Five, 274 Miles, 8 Shops, Only 27 Shops Remaining

Tu-Na Travels: Day Six, 243 Miles, 8 Shops, Only 19 Shops Remaining

Tu-Na Travels: Day Seven, 259 Miles, 6 Shops, 13 Only Shops Remaining

Tu-Na Travels: Day Eight, 204 Miles, 6 Shops, Only 7 Shops Remaining

Tu-Na Travels: Day Nine, 401 Miles, 4 Shops, Only 3 Shops Remaining

Tu-Na Travels: Day Ten, 171 Miles, 3 Shops, 0 Shops Remaining

Tu-Na Quilts: Update on Johnny’s Quilt (I interviewed Johnny and his Grandma Sue on Day 6. Check out his progress here.)

All the links to my posts for last year’s Quilt MN Shop Hop can be found at the top of this blog under the Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats title. Click on the Shop Hop tab; in the drop down menu, click on 2016 Quilt MN Shop Hop Posts. You will find pictures and links to each of the posts for that year’s hop. I hope to get this year’s posts put up there soon.

Linking to:

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilt

 

Tu-Na Quilts: I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Block 4 Released Today

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Welcome to the second block release for today for the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long. You can find my version of Block Three, Santa’s Belt, here. I’m just getting started and have some catching up to do so come along and join me as we explore some new patterns and blogs together.

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Block 4 designed by Jennifer at The Inquiring Quilter

Jennifer’s titled her block “Christmas Memories.” It’s a gorgeous block of Christmas ornaments and you’ll have to pop over to her blog here to get your free copy.

I thought I’d share a memory about two of our tree ornaments. Many years ago, before we had children, my husband and I lived near Washington D.C. We would be spending our first Christmas by ourselves away from our families. I called and asked my mother-in-law to send a favorite tree ornament that would remind my husband of his home and his childhood Christmas memories.

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This glass ornament is my husband’s favorite from his childhood. He didn’t know it was coming from his mom.

I also talked to my mom and asked her to mail mine. I had the advantage as I knew just which one.

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This multi-faceted ball was made of metal. I’ve since found some plastic types at the dollar store but they are just not the same.

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We celebrated that Christmas by ourselves but we still hang these ornaments on our tree every year.

Now onto Jennifer’s block. Here’s as far as I got.

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I’ve only had time to pick out the fabrics for this block. Stay tuned while I put it together and post it.

Please see Jennifer’s blog here for the free pattern and tutorial so you can make one, too. I’ll be working on mine and as soon as it’s finished I’ll be posting some tips and tricks to putting this one together here on my blog and also on the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Facebook page. It’s the best I can do for now as we have a printer that won’t work and I’ve been very busy petting some new fabric!

Update: I’ve now completed this block and you can see it here. FYI-I only used two of the fabrics above.

Jennifer is offering a 20% discount off all her patterns (PDF or printed) in her online store beginning August 29th and running through September 30th. You must enter the promo code MERRYQAL20 at checkout to get the discount.

Block 4 Christmas Memories designed by Jennifer at The Inquiring Quilter

Be sure and visit our other designers and hosts to see their version of Jennifer’s block, Christmas Memories.

What I Learned Today:

  1. My fake pine trees by my fireplace need dusting.
  2. I need to make a trip to the fabric store to get some transfer photo fabric for another project and also fusible webbing for this applique project. Good grief. I should have been looking for those in the 66 quilt shops that we visited!

Question: Do you have a special ornament that you hang on your Christmas tree? I shared mine above. My sister made the nativity out of a walnut shell. I’ll have to post a picture of that when I have my block made as it’s also a favorite of mine.

Coming Soon:

  • Tu-Na Helper’s Side of the 2017 Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop
  • A Look at the Loot that I acquired or purchased on that shop hop

Welcome: I’m glad you stopped by on the quilt-a-long. I hope you’ll be back. If you like what you read and want to make sure you don’t miss any posts, please follow me by subscribing by email, WordPress or Bloglovin.

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

Linking to:

Midweek Makers at QuiltFabrication

WIPs at Silly Mama Quilts

Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

Tu-Na Quilts: I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Block 3 Released Today

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Have you heard? There’s a new Christmas Quilt-A-Long happening and there’s still time to join.

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I’m just getting started myself. I’ve been galavanting all around Minnesota shop hopping and now I’m playing with a bunch of new fabric. I found some Christmas fabric in several of those 66 quilt shops I visited that I can use for this new project, too. I’ll be hosting these designers as they showcase their creative 12.5″ blocks and will be sewing along, too. So grab some fabric and let’s get cutting.

When you’ve finished your block, you might want to join the linky parties going on at the designer’s blogs. If you’re looking for inspiration and want to see what other’s blocks are looking like, check out the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Facebook page as well as #iwishyouamerryqal on Instagram.

I’ve heard there are giveaways with prizes. The first two blocks have already been released and are available for free until January 16th, 2018. Find Block One and the tutorial here and Block Two and the tutorial here.

Look for one or two blocks to be released every other Tuesday. Two blocks are on the schedule for today with the fifth block to be released Sept. 12th. The final block is set to post on December 5th giving you just enough time to finish your quilt before Christmas.

I’ll be playing catch-up here so watch for more blocks coming as well as a look at the loot I purchased on the 2017 Quilt MN Shop Hop (on separate posts that is).

Now let’s see what new block awaits us today.

Block 3: Santa’s Belt designed by Laura at Slice of Pi Quilts

Here’s my version. Please see Laura’s site for her free pattern and tutorial so you can make one, too.  Thanks, Laura, this is a cute block!

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Guess who’s coming to dinner, or to my house, or to your house if you make one of these blocks. Isn’t it amazing how a few strips of fabric placed just so resembles a well-known part of the holidays?

This super cute block sews together very easily. It’s great for a beginner or an advanced quilter who just wants to get a block done quickly. When I sew a block, I like to know which direction to press the seams.  So I thought I’d share how I did them.

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Press seams in direction of the arrows.

Refer to your pattern found on Laura’s blog. Here’s some pressing hints:

Center Unit: After sewing the gold rectangles to either side of the black square—which will be the center of the buckle, press the seams in towards the black square (as indicated with black arrows in pic above). After sewing the gold rectangles to the top and bottom of that unit, press the seam outwards toward the gold rectangle (as indicated with white arrows in pic above). After sewing the red rectangles to the top and bottom of that unit, press the seam out towards the red rectangles (as indicated with green arrows in pic above). This will help to next the seams when sewing the units together.

Side Units: After sewing the red rectangles on the top and bottom of the black rectangles, press the seams in toward the black rectangles (as indicated with yellow arrows above).

Sewing Units Together: After sewing the units together, press the seams outward (as indicated with purple arrows above).

Your block will now look so pretty from the back but really it will lay flat and your seams will match nicely.

Check out all the designer’s and hosts below to see their version of Santa’s Belt. Will you be joining us and be merrily quilting-a-long?

I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Hosts:

Block 3 Santa’s Belt designed by Laura at Slice of Pi Quilts

What I Learned Today:

  1. It’s never too late to get started.
  2. Sometimes the hardest part of a project is starting it.
  3. I must be needing to celebrate Christmas this year; I participated in the 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop in July and now this one.

Question: Does Santa make an appearance at your house? When the kids were young, Santa came and filled their stockings and put presents under the tree. Now, if the grandkids are here on Christmas day, Santa fills a stocking for them—if he remembers. Otherwise, everyone gets presents from Papa and Tu-Na.

Coming soon:

  • A few words from Tu-Na Helper regarding his side of the 2017 Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop
  • A look at the loot that I acquired or purchased.

Welcome:

If you are visiting here for the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long, welcome to my journey doing the things I love: quilt, travel, and eat. You are welcome to follow me by subscribing by email, WordPress, or Bloglovin (check my sidebar for the links).

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

Linking to:

Wait Loss Wednesday at the Inquiring Quilter

Santa’s Belt Link Up at Slice of Pi Quilts

Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Linky Tuesday at Free Motion by the River

WIPs with Friends at Mama Sparks

WIPs at Silly Mama Quilts

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Finish or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilt

Show Off Saturday at SewCanShe

Tu-Na Quilts: Update on Johnny’s Quilt

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I received an email from Grandma Sue telling me of Johnny’s progress on the quilt he designed and was sewing. If you recall, I interviewed them on Day 6 of the Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop when I featured Monika’s Quilt and Yarn Shop when we were in Park Rapids, MN. If you missed that story, read it here.

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Picture used with permission. Could this be a friendship star block?Johnny drew the quilt layout and then selected these beautiful blue fabrics from Monika’s Quilt and Yarn Shop in Park Rapids, MN. I wonder if he’s found his whale backing, yet.

 

He worked hard on this quilt project when he was at Grandma Sue’s in August. “I showed him how to cut accurately and how to sew the 1/2 square triangles. He did everything himself from cutting strips to squares, marking the 1/2 square triangles, sewing, pressing to arranging on the design wall. and then had to leave for home,” wrote Sue Harmon. 

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Picture used with permission. Those are some mighty nice looking half-square triangles. I think Johnny has a great start to his quilt.

I suppose a 12-year old has to go home and get ready for another school year. But Grandma Sue assured me he’d be back over Labor Day, and if time allowed, would be sewing away on it. I’m sure she’ll take some pics and email them my way so I can share his progress with you. Go, Johnny!

What I Learned Today:

  1. A 12 year old can do mighty fine workmanship. That quilt already looks wonderful. I’m impressed with how much he’s done in such a short time.
  2. Quilts look great up on a design wall.
  3. I need a design wall.

Question: At what age did you start sewing? At what age did you make your first quilt? I was 5 when I sewed an apron for my mom. I won’t tell you any more about it as it is a story yet to be written and shared here on the blog. I was 16 when I made my first quilt and I’ve already written that story here. The making of that quilt resulted in a marriage proposal —not from Tu-Na Helper, though. But I’ll let you read it for yourself.

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen,

Tu-Na Quilts