I just had a light bulb moment!! (Mini Tutorial)

I just checked my emails and I had one from Missouri Quilt Co....Jenny was showing us the following video for a JRR (Jelly Roll Race) quilt version 3.0



It was whilst watching her do the triangles that I thought of this technique that Ricky Tims & Alex Anderson shared



Then......I thought oooooh, what if I combined the two techniques...and so I madly scrambled to the cutting mat (ok, so it might have been stumbled over fabric etc to get to the cutting mat, but we won't go there lol), found a few pieces of fabric in the right sizes, because I don't want to try it on a big size project if it ain't gonna work, right?

So I cut myself two x 2 & 1/2" strips by the width of this roll of fabric I have (the roll is approx 9 & 3/8" wide) THEN, I cut a 2 & 1/2" x 4 & 1/2" rectangle in another colour fabric.

I folded the rectangle together with the wrong sides together. As shown in this next pic.

Have your 2 & 1/2" (Jelly Roll strip) strip laying horizontally with the r/s facing up, place the folded rectangle onto either the left or right hand bottom corner of the longer strip.  Make sure that the fold is at the top, click on the pic to enlarge it to see it better  *Note, it shouldn't matter which end you do, so long as you are consistant, especially if you're doing this on a quilt sized project.

In the next pic, I've put my scissors on the fabric to show where the fold of the rectangle should be.

Now take the next 2 & 1/2" strip and place it on top, to create a sandwich, making sure to place it r/s facing down.

Now you're going to sew down either the right or left hand seam...depending on which end you've placed the folded unit between the two jelly roll strips.  In the pic, I sewed down the side seam indicated by my thumb!

(This next bit I didn't take pics of, but it is shown in the video down a bit further.)  Take your work to your iron, and you are going to set the stitching first, then you'll open up your jelly roll strip so that the seam allowance is away from the goose!  Press this nice and flat.  Now you're going to reach in under the goose.....no, not to tickle his belly, but to open the goose out....spread his wings so to speak!

Once that's done, and you're happy with how the bottom edges are lined up, press your goose down really nicely, you want a nice crease along the triangle edges, especially if you're doing this as a JRR (Jelly Roll Race quilt....guess this one is 4.0 or would it be 3.1??) as the geese are going to be loose until you start sewing the long strip together as you would normally do.

 This pic shows the front view

And in this one, you can see the back view

If you're making this as a smaller project, such as on a pouch. bag or tablerunner, then just add strips either side as I did in the crappy video below.

Once you've either sewn strips to either side, or you've finished making the JRR quilt top, then you get to Cathedral window the geese....however many you've done or want to do....because this version of the geese have bias edges to them, they soooo easily curve towards the centre and make a really nice effect...see the video and pics for more explanations.

Hopefully I've explained this good enough for you to understand....do you like it?  I do, and I will be trying it out on a quilt size project soon....wish me luck.

I'm not claiming this as all my own idea, but more like inspired by Jenny Doan and The Quilt Show with Ricky Tims.  If you know of someone else who has already done this technique, please let me know...and I'll happily give them credit.  I wouldn't even know where to begin to name it apart from JRR Version 3.1 or 4.0 lol

Now it's your turn...if you try this mini tutorial out, please let me know and send me a link to where you have the pics of the block so I can see how yours turned out.

Well, here's where the video will be...eventually, it's taking what seems like an eternity for the block to upload to my dropbox, so hopefully I can work out how to share it on here directly from there, or I'll have to upload it to YouTube and then embed it here...bear with me, the video is coming, I promise.

Update....the video is in my dropbox, so fingers crossed it will be right under this paragraph by the time I submit this post.  Sadly it is too big to be embedded, so for now I will share the link to the video in my dropbox, and whilst I sleep tonight, I'll upload it to YouTube and pop it in later.



Error alert...in the video I tell you to fold the rectangle in half with the r/s together....the observant viewer will have noticed it should be w/s together......ignore my jammie sleeve in the video, and my fluff bunny coated iron.  No laughing at my accent either lol

Relaxing too much???

I couldn't resist sharing this cartoon I just saw on Facebook....I know you want to know why.....so here goes, one of my readers' (name withheld to protect me!), was telling me a while back, that when she goes to her Pilates class and once they get all warmed up and start doing the class, she always gets the urge to pass wind.....from the look of the cartoon, she may not be the only one who fights the urge hey? lol  Wonder how long it'll take her to realise this post is for her benefit lol

Till next time, happy sewing

Show n Tell

Hello you lovely people,

I have a few things that I have finally uploaded pics for, and thought I would share them with you tonight.....hope your eyes are ready for a photo feast?  I hope they're not disappointed lol

First up, is a pincushion, you can never have too many of them I reckon, but this one is like the big Momma pincushion that presides over all other pincushions lol

The pattern has you leave a gap along the bottom edge of the pocket section....and I don't like having to hand stitch through so many layers, so I used my creative licence and altered the construction of the pattern....guess where?  I made the wedges up as per the pattern, but once the top piece was done, I folded it up and cut a bit off the centre bit, to make a hole.....this is where I turned it the right way out, and also how I put the stuffing in...then I covered it all with those two yo yo's.  Check out the super cute scissor buttons...and woot woot they're purple too.  (Pattern is from The Patchwork Cow)

Next up, is two Bionic Gear Bags.....which you can purchase the pattern for here.  Sally Thompson, the lady who is behind the Bionic Gear Bag (BGB) pattern, is a really lovely lady, and if you go check out her website here, you can see not only her video on how much stuff she fits in her BGB, but you can see all the other colour combo's that other people have made.

First up is my bestie's BGB....it was part of her birthday present a couple of weeks ago (yes, it's take me 12 days to pull my finger out and upload the pics lol) She now has even more stuff inside it than when I took the photos....coz these bags hold a WHOLE bunch of stuff...and now Terri has one big pouch instead of about 4 that she used to tote around with her to quilting!

Terri is like me, she loves owls, and her favourite colour is purple....makes it hard to have 'unique' hooty stuff I can tell ya lol

Next up is Marc's BGB....I made it as part of her birthday present too, but it's not her birthday till next month, but I had kind of mentioned to her that I was making her and Terri the same thing....so she got her BGB about a month early....her fabric tastes are 'country' so I went shopping in my stash and these are the colours I came up with for hers.

In the front right of the last pic of Marc's you can see the small fabric dish...it's held in place with magnets, and you can use the gap behind the dish, in the corner there, to stand your pens, small scissors etc. I believe they both like them, Marc must like hers so far, as I couldn't spy a single baked bean or tomato sauce stain anywhere lol  (Sorry Marc xx)


If you want to make a BGB, then please click HERE to go purchase the pattern, you won't regret it.

Next up, is a USB wallet that I designed ages ago...in fact it was about 12 months ago, and I can't remember if I've shown you before or not, and I'm too lazy to go check previous posts (am still in disgust at losing my template etc so am still sulking with my blog lol)...so either tah dah, here it is, or here it is again lol

I'm in the process of doing a tutorial for the USB wallet....and will need someone, maybe two people to test it...if you're interested in being a tutorial tester for me, please leave a comment....ideally, I'd like a relatively new sewist as well as an experienced one, so I can guage whether my destructions (instructions hee hee) make sense.....these would make a great stocking filler...especially for the geeks in the family lol

Ahhhhh, it feels sooooo good to be sharing pics of a few projects.....and if anyone makes the BGB, I'd love to see the pics....I know I'll be making some more soon....one for me is next on the BGB to do list.

Another update

Edited 4th August 2014:  I am soooo, so very sorry, I thought this post had already gone up...and it was indeed scheduled for publishing on 18th July, but for some reason it didn't post.....with all that went on with the blog 'adjustments' I'm still trying to fine tune a few things, so I've been having a look here and there, and I found this in my draft folder....oh well, I'll publish it now so you can see the hooty quilt, finally!!

 I've just spent the last couple of hours trying to find more details about a quilt pattern I tested for someone...I know we were corresponding through my Gmail account, and I normally save 'special' emails into folders, but for the life of me, I can't find any from her to me or me to her anywhere in my Gmail.

I can however let you know that I first had contact with her a couple of years ago, and then her life got in the way and I didn't hear back from her regarding the test pattern again, until I think it was either late last year or early this year.....I'm going to go with early this year, because then I don't feel so bad at only sharing the pics of the quilt now.

As you may all know, I kind of have a soft spot for owls..well derr lol  So it was a no brainer when Sue Lynn contacted me to see if I was still interested in testing the pattern for her.  Here's the link to her blog, where you can keep updated with any future patterns she releases....now with disclosure in mind, I must tell you, that her owl quilt pattern is actually needleturned, which I didn't do....yet, but will be, however I did thoroughly read her pattern, and could follow it along, and found no errors.

Yes, yes, I know, stop waffling Naomi and just show us the pics!

 The test blocks were mixed in with both donated blocks and some I made to fill in the spaces....and was sent off to an Aussie Hero, to thank her for her time away from home.  Below are a few close ups of the owl blocks.  The quilt request was for owls and pastels....I think I nailed it didn't I?  I must've, because I received a lovely email saying how much the quilt meant to the new owner....R! (Name withheld for privacy reasons)

 Below you can see the 'cheater' Paris fabric I used on the back, this was donated to AHQ by Berri Uniting Church, and it works great as backing, even though its a bit too pretty really!

 And of course, a close up of the quilt label.....I like to add mine to the front usually, but broke my tradition and added this one on the back.....I also like to add them before the quilting is done, so there's no chance of it falling off at some stage!

Ooooh, and before I forget, I FMQ'd this myself....and yes, I am crap at it....but it's done with love....now if I can just get my hand/foot synchronisation happening, I won't get all those loooonnnnng stitches every now and then, and those pesky eye lashes on the back.....need more practice = good excuse to make more quilts right?

Things that make me go Hmmmm

Just recently, I once again contacted Joanns craft and fabric online customer service, via their website...here's a copy of what I sent to them

Tonight I received a response...


Thank you for contacting Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores Customer Service.
We appreciate the time you have taken to write and share your feedback with us. Please provide us with the store location that you were visiting, including the city, so that we can forward this to the appropriate personnel for review and handling. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
You may contact Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores Customer Service via phone at 1-888-739-4120, Monday through Saturday, 9 am - 7 pm Eastern Time.
Thank you,
Terrie
Customer Service Coordinator

Now I don't see anywhere in my contact form where I suggested that I'd been into a store...or is that how it comes across to you?  But Terrie's response doesn't even come close to answering what I wanted to know.....wish they'd just hurry up and offer shipping to Australia lol

I have been busy sewing and cutting out the last couple of days, but you're gonna have to wait till Tuesday to see the finished goodies....as 2 are presents for friends....1 definately reads the blog, so I can't ruin her surprise, even if it would mean I wouldn't have to wrap her gift hahaha  (Bad luck Marc, you'll just have to wait till Tuesday....it's about a month early anyway lol)

Gotta drag out one of the old clunker machines (sorry Bertha!) as I'm up to a point where it's thick seams, and the old faithful Janome will sew through it like a hot knife through butter, whereas the MC9000 doesn't like the thicker seams so much, so she's on vacation tomorrow, well later today....lol

See anything different?

Yesterday sometime, I got an email from a company asking me to remove a link from my blog as they were getting into trouble with Google about it.....after another email back and forth between us, it turns out, it was in teeny weeny print down the bottom of the blog....who even looks down there on my blog?  I certainly don't lol

So, I decided that as my blog background host no longer offers the free version of the background I was using, that I would go with a different one altogether, as it seemed the almost defunct version of my blog template was where this mystery link was from.

As the line from one of my favourite movies goes (ala Pretty Woman fame) big mistake, HUGE

I lost everything apart from my posts, about me and one other thing....it was bare bones....skeletal even....so I started messing some more, tried a couple more templates, and again found out it 'stole' stuff and wouldn't give it all back to me, so I rolled up my sleeves, put on my big girl panties and messed around with html (woah, isn't that a scary thing to try and 'speak' eeeek lol) and have now got a blogger hosted template, my own taste in colours somewhat, and I'm supposed to even have a different font, yet as I sit here and type this, the font looks the same....will pass judgement when I click publish lol

For those with eagle eyes, you may have noticed that I've changed the name of the blog....this is to reflect the labels I sew onto items I make (apart from Aussie Hero Quilts, they have official labels on them) and will be matching the name of my new online shop that I'm opening up soon...much to my daughters' dismay, it still isn't open....feel free to keep commenting to tell me to hurry up and open it up....my daughter will love you eternally for being motivational to her ever so procrastinational (is that even a word?  If not, I claim it as my blondinese invention!) mother lol 

I don't believe I've ever done a post without a pic, so will find one to add in here, as with everything else that's gone on here today, I'd hate to start posting with no image to entice you all in lol

I'll try and minimize the amount of changes I make to the blog, and for those whose buttons I had on the side bar...please comment so I can visit your blog or site and add them back on.....soooooo frustrated I tell ya!