Review of "Modern Quilt Patterns" from McCall's Quiting

I got the surprise of my life when I was asked by McCall's Quilting to review a free ebook called "Modern Quilt Patterns".  Inside are three beautiful quilts with full instructions.  It's in PDF format and ten pages long. 

Scrolling down is awkward when you are used to reading left to right so it's easy to get lost in directions and scrolling can be a pain.  I'll let them know that.  If there is a setting on a PDF viewer that lets you read like a normal book, it would be great to find it.

The first quilt, "Baubles and Beads" has lots of potential for scraps and colorways.  It would be stunning in blues/greens or blues/golds.  It's really easy to make but I would strip piece the center parts instead of the directions given.  It's my favorite out the three and will plan on making it some time this year. 

"Rainbow Rhythm" is made of half square triangles done in various colors from greens, blues, purples, pinks, silver, whites and reds.  The only problem I have with fat quarter quilts is that patterns never give a visual on how to cut the strips on the fat quarter.  I'd cheat and use Thangles with this because I'm lazy. 

If you can get past the pinks/purples and loudness of the third quilt, "Lemon Squeezy", it's a quilt-as-you go project.  The directions were kind of hard to follow until I realized it was a strippy pieced quilt and you just make sure the lengths are what is required in the pattern.  The quilt is sewn on the diagonal using the seams as the quilting.  It would be cool to use different colored bobbin threads to create a pattern for the back of the quilt.

Again, thanks to McCall's for asking me to do a review.

How Was Your Day?

Woot!  After several months of not touching a sewing machine I was up and ready to go today.  Sometimes you just need a break to rediscover your love and I've needed it.  With it snowing outside, it was the perfect day to cut tons of fabric for a log cabin quilt.  Who needs a Go! Cutter when this works even better?  I'm not about to pay 80 bucks for a 2 inch strip die when this ran about 13 bucks and can cut whatever widths and lengths I want.

Of course since it's been snowing, I couldn't resist a ride outside on my Mukluk.  The gorgeous white snow was calling to me.  My son took pics of me outside on the road.  I took a spin around the neighborhood and had a blast.  This bike rocks in the snow and eats it with ease.  Too bad I don't have pics of all the people staring at me while passing with their cars.  They were probably thinking what nut is out riding a bike in the middle of a snowstorm?

Went to the doc yesterday about some pain in my upper thigh.  Turns out I have bursitis and he gave me some prednisone to take for a week.  I'm falling apart.

If you're in the middle of this storm, stay safe..even if you have a Muk to ride outside.  

Feeling Better

Finally feeling a LOT better.  Don't know what I picked up but it wasn't fun.  The rest of my family only had a couple of days while I had two weeks.  You don't realize how much you need your hearing until you lose it to being clogged.  That full feeling drives you nuts and everything sounds muffled.

Thanks to a tax refund I was able to get a laptop and..gasp..it's not a Mac.  If it blows up on me, I'll never buy from Microsoft again.  I also got my first pair of real shoes for running.  Now that I'm feeling better I can get outside.

I've discovered a new love of paper.  I'll never do the scrapbooking thing, but have enjoyed making some stuff.  I bought a Silhouette Cameo cutter off of Amazon and purchased the upgrade of Designer Studio.  If you are looking to dump your Cricut and don't want a big machine, this is the perfect one.

Here's what I made for Valentine's Day for my hubby with the software and some purchased SVG/PNG files.  You can buy digital paper and print out your designs on card stock.  Hubby loved it.

I haven't done any quilting because my red fabric seems to have disappeared and I need to order green thread for the other quilt.  I was at JoAnn's and saw Kona had some really great red fabric.  I should have bought half yards of several reds to see if any of them matched what I have.  I have a kit in my closet that I should probably start or keep working on my log cabin quilt.

Sick

I hate depression and I hate being sick.  I haven't touched my sewing machine in months and even my poor bike is sitting in the garage feeling neglected.  

I'm still here but taking a break.  I'm crawling back into bed and hoping to feel better soon.  Two weeks of a cold really sucks.  

HELP!

I need some appliqué help!  While doing my machine top stitching, getting the corners to stay underneath has proved very difficult and pretty much just dealt with it until my LBS had this tool:

Some guy makes them and sells them to her.  I don't know if you can tell where the corners didn't fold..see top right corner.

When I started using the tool to hold the corners in place or lift up the fabric and shove it back in, the one block I've been working on looks perfect.

So..do I just leave the other 3 blocks with little "tags" and use the tool for the rest of the quilt and not worry about it?  Unpicking all those pieces would be a PITA.  Some pieces are more obvious than others.  My red fabric is limited as well.  Not even sure I have enough to do the final border since my LBS has no clue where she got it from.  Or do I find a red fabric just for the outside border that works with the inside?

Cycling:

Nothing.  It's freezing outside and I don't do cold.  Riding on a trainer is boring.  Plus my Fargo's front chain rings are bent, the cassette has two worn out cogs from where I always stay and my rear derailleur might be bent.  It's amazing what you find while riding a trainer.  I'd love to just upgrade the entire components but that would cost a fortune.  It was nearly 90 bucks just for the chain rings on my Muk.  I'd need to do a complete overhaul if I wanted to dump the crappy bar end shifters as well.  Maybe with a tax refund but I doubt it.

Catching Up

Been working on a couple of projects and finally have them done.  I was able to talk with a representative from the KNK company about my Cougar cutter.  She helped me figure out settings to get it cutting right.  Make the Cut software has KNK plug-in which made things SO much easier.  While the Cougar isn't a KNK machine, their parent company, Foison makes both machines.  Customer service at the KNK company is phenomenal and despite being a competitor to the Cougar brand, she was happy to help me out.

Thanks to Amazon's trade-in policy I almost have enough to get a Zing, a KNK machine.  I then plan on selling my Cougar cutter for 750 and shipping.  Even though technically the Cougar is a better machine with higher cutting force, I'd be happier with a Zing.

Here's what I made with the Cougar cutter today:

I designed the tile and after several botched attempts, frustrations and help from Sandy, finally got it cut out.

The box was a file from the MTC forum that a lady had designed.  Cut out perfectly!

I think now that the days are starting to get longer, I'm feeling better.  Hope to be quilting and maybe doing some more biking with my Muk.

Catching Up

I've been off grid for a long time.  Been dealing some depression and anxiety and haven't felt like quilting in ages.

To catch up:

I've been working on my cross stitch.  Who knew you could spend hours and feel like you are getting nowhere with this type of project?

Then I got busy with my vinyl cutter and did these projects:

It wasn't until I was done  and realized the verse wasn't word to word in the scripture, but if you aren't picky it's all good.  My cougar does a fantastic job cutting out all the those pieces when it isn't acting up.   I didn't think about putting the book and verse until a friend pointed it out and cut it out, but it didn't pull off right.

I love how my last name tile worked out so well.  MTC is a great computer program and I'm learning new stuff every time I try something.  What I suck at is drawing via bezier tool and node editing.  That leaves me pulling my hair out.  It's not nearly as bad as learning Inkscape though.

Out of curiosity, would people buy stuff like this?

Cycling:

I got my X9 grips on and they are fantastic.  No more crazy shifting.  It finally snowed and I took my Muk out for the first time.  Wow.  This bike wasn't really meant for mountain biking but she glides over snow.  However; when I'd be shifting, the chain would get caught and come to a dead stop.  Once I took a good look I realized my chain rings were bent.  Probably from my last bike accident.  Long story short, it took almost 2 weeks for the LBS to get the chain rings in so I haven't been riding.  Between the new shifters and the chain rings, the bike rides fantastic though.  

If I had known what to buy and how to install the chain rings, it would be so much easier.

Last year I did 336 miles between both bikes.  Longest ride was 21 miles.

About 3 weeks after my crash on Dec. 1, I went to the doc for some wrist/elbow pain thinking maybe I'd broken or had hairline fractures.  Turns out  when my elbow and hand hit the rocks, the nerves took most of it and they are just now starting to heal up.