Happy Rainy Wedneday

Hello my friends, How is every one?  Below are some projects that I have been working on.

This quilt has been on my design wall for over a year now.  Feels good to get it finished.  Now, for Thomas to work his magic on it.  

This is a sample I made to display at work using Floral Elements collection # 260 from Husqvarna Viking.  This collection is versatile and the design elements can be combined in a variety of unique combinations.  

The start of a sampler wall hanging to be placed at the top of the newly carpeted stairs.

Until next time,

Earth Day 2015

Happy Earth Day!

 Today I had breakfast with my friend Pat at the Corner Cafe.  I just love waking meeting up with friends.

  This was me today. The front and back yard.

Found this Starling in my back yard today.  She did pick a strange place, but who I am to judge.

Late lunch / early dinner with Thomas.

 Yummy fabrics from Pink Castle Fabrics
 They are Bonnie and Camille Basics Stash Box!
I can see a quilt or two coming from these. 

What did you do on Earth day?

Until next time,

I'm Baaaacccckkkk

Wow, the last blog post was on January 11, 2014.  In the coming weeks, I will share with you why I have been away.

Have you seen that I have been posting to Pinterest?  Lots of neat stuff.  A few of my board are:

• Chip off the Old Block (Quilt Blocks)
• Pillow Talk (Quilted Pillow Tops)
• Off the Wall (Table Runners)
• Quilts, Quilts, Quilts.
• And many more.

I have posted a nice article from Wall Street Journal about Sewing on Qubee Quilts Facebook page. Check it out.

Just to show that men really do sew, I leave you with the following images.

Until next time,

Plotting a return

We here at Qubee Quilts have been away for too long.  Charlie and I (Thomas), are planning on a return to the blogosphere.  Charlie will continue to show off his designs and whatever is rattling around that pretty little head of his.  I will be sharing some of my work with my longarm machine, as well as trying to learn new ways to quilt.

I think that sharing our work and new ideas online will help us both be a little more creative than we have been lately, and maybe inspire others to be more creative too!

More soon,


Thomas

Teen Books & Quilting

I saw a book list that was entitled 25 book you might wish to steal from your teen and I thought I would check a few of them out because I have a fascination with young adult fiction.   

Dead End in Norvelt

By Jack Gantos

Jack thinks his summer is over until his mother volunteers him to help a neighbor. He discovers a mystery behind his unusual assignment.

Okay for Now

By Gary D. Schmidt 

Doug Swieteck must overcome a deadbeat father, an older brother who steals from him, a brother returning from the Vietnam War and being the new kid in boring Marysville, New York.

A Long Way from Chicago

By Richard Peck

A shotgun-toting, cherry-bomb-throwing grandma, a corpse that doesn’t seem to want to stay in its coffin, bandits, ghosts and other exciting adventures await when two city kids spend summers away from home.

Half BrotherBy Kenneth Oppel 

When Ben’s dad is doing research into animals and language, a chimp named Zan comes to live with the family. What happens when research work is over and medical testing is about to begin?

Here is a place mat that I made using leftover fabric from Saltwater, along with some linen fabric.  Yes, these circles did take hours to do.  

I have a thing for dots.  All kinds of dots. I love the mix of colors that these have.  I'm currently working on a new quilt that will live on our couch and will keep us warm while we are watching T.V.

Until next time,

Bar Hop Quilt Along

Welcome to another addition of Bar Hop Quilt along presented by Blue Nickel Studios.

A pub crawl (sometimes called a bar tour, bar crawl or bar-hopping) is the act of one or more people drinking in multiple pubsor bars in a single night, normally walking or busing to each one between drinking.

Did you know there is even a Monopoly Board and Santa Claus themed pub crawl?  To read more about them check out this page on Wikipedia.

X Bar:

Cutting Directions:

One -13 1/4 x 4 3/4 - Bar
Two - 4 3/4 x 4 3/4 - Bars
Two - 4" x 4" -  Corner Triangle Sets (Make one diagonal cut across the square - yield 2 triangles
One - 7 1/4" x 7 1/4" - Background square (Make two diagonal cuts across the square - yield 4 triangles.)

Sewing and Assembling Directions:

block uses 1/4" seam allowance.  

1. Sew two large triangles to either side of a bar. Repeat
2. Sew large triangle/bar unit to sides of center bar unit.
3. Sew one triangle from corner to end of each bar.
4. Trim Block to 12 1/2" squares.  

Until next time,

My Week

Have you ever had one of them weeks where everything just falls into place?  Well, this is not one of them.  I'll be back later today with an update and my block.

Thank you, for your continued support.  

Until next time,

Brighter Future

THEN

NOW

I was able to pick up one of these great OttLites at a steal from Jo-Ann's when they were having one of their door busters last week.  I've owned one for years and love the natural light and true colors and I find that I can work on my craft longer with this light.    

I must say Ott sure has come along way since I got my first lamp over ten years ago.

Until next time,

Announcing the “Blogger’s Bar Hop Quiltalong”

Last year, a bunch of my bloggy friends got together and we shared our ideas with you during the Quilt-Uberfest Quiltalong—check out those great blocks here and here.  This year, some of those same bloggers and a bunch of new friends have returned for this autumn’s Blue Nickel Quiltalong.  This year we are focusing on using rectangles in our blocks and after much cleverness searching we came up with this title:  the blogger’s Bar Hop Quiltalong.

Now lest we offend some of you along the way with our reference to a Bar Hop, let us all remember that Bars come in all varieties.  Tavern/Pub bars, yes, but also: Candy Bars, Snack Bars, Breakfast Bars, Sand Bars, Tea Bars (okay, that would be a Tea House, I know…..) Ice Cream Bars, Behind Bars, etc.   So pick YOUR favorite Bar and Hop along with us!

The fabric we are featuring has been generously supplied by Clothworks from theirEuropean Taupe VIII collection by Kinkame.  Soft, subtle, and maybe just a little more “traditional” in tone.  We have fourteen bloggers with styles ranging from very modern to the somewhat more traditional side of the quilting street. We believe the “wall” that sometimes comes up between quilters on those lines should be torn down, so that is part of why the collection has been chosen. If you choose to make your blocks out totally modern or totally traditional, they will work just fine.  We love to see the variety of blocks that emerge from these quiltalongs!

Each designer was given four fat quarters from the collection and told they could add one solid and one print of their choice OR two solids and that was it. The other requirement was that they had to use at least one rectangle (bar) in the block  somewhere.  The blocks will all finish to a useful 12” x 12” size.  Feel free to post your blocks here as you hop along with us!

Here’s the line up!

October 1 Amy Ellis

October 2 Lynn Harris   

October 3   Heather Jones    

October 4   Jackie Kunkel    

October 5 Ashley Jones

October 6  Emily Cier 

October 7 Scott Hansen

October 8 Jan Peoples

October 9 April Rosenthal

October 10 Amy Lobsiger

October 11  Cara Quilts

October 12   Konda Luckau

October 13  Alethea Ballard

October 14 Charlie Scott

Hope to see you on the Hop!

Until next time,

Sew Red for Women - Repost from P2

Below you will find the post from Patchwork Squared.  Sorry for any inconvenience this might of caused.

I am very happy to be a part of the Sew Red for Women Blog Hop.  I hope that it will call attention to heart disease and maybe even save a life. 

Heart disease is the leading cause of death of women in the U.S. Almost every minute, a woman in the U.S. dies from heart disease. Nearly five times as many women (200,000) will die from heart attacks alone this year than will die from breast cancer.

Although many people think of heart disease as a man's problem, women can and do get heart disease. In fact, heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States. It is also a leading cause of disability among women.

The most common cause of heart disease is narrowing or blockage of the coronary arteries, the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart itself. This is called coronary artery disease and happens slowly over time. It's the major reason people have heart attacks. Prevention is important: two-thirds of women who have a heart attack fail to make a full recovery.

The older a woman gets, the more likely she is to get heart disease. But women of all ages should be concerned about heart disease. All women can take steps to prevent it by practicing healthy lifestyle habits.

You can significantly reduce your risk of heart disease if you have the information you need, know the questions to ask your health provider and have the support to make heart-smart changes in your life.

Without further ado, I give you our block entitled:

Woven Strip 

For this block you will need:

• Four 3 ½” squares of strip fabric & white fabric (Chem 37102-13 & Bella 9900-97)
• One 3 ½” x 6 ½” rectangle of pink, light, medium & dark red.  (Bella 9900-140, 9900-27, 9900-199 & 9900-16)

Instructions:

Use a scant ¼” inch seam allowance throughout

• Sew the four 3 ½” squares to the white 3 ½” squares
• Press seams toward the stripe fabric

• Sew the above rectangles to each of the Bella 3 ½” x 6 ½” rectangles.
• Press seams toward sold Bella fabric.

• Lay out the four pieces as shown above.  Flip right vertical row into left vertical row and sew.  
• Turn and sew remaining row together.
• Press seams toward sold Bella fabric forming a small four patch in the center. 
• Trim to 12 ½” 
• Enjoy your new block!

Remember to post your block to the Sew Red for Women Flickr Group

If you have any questions let me know.

Until next time,