Cinco de Mayo!

Let's Celebrate!!

Give me a Margarita-- 

Some Guacamole 

Fresh tortilla chips

and throw in some chile con queso

 Add

And We have a Party!

No Scrap Left Behind.................

No Scrap Left behind could mean couple of things--you are a member of the 'clean plate club' or you are a quilter that wants to use up every little bite of scrap fabric.  I think I could be a member of both of these clubs, but I'm thinking the scrap fabric club has less calories and takes some energy to accomplish.  There has been a blog hop  that features a new book by Amanda Jean "No Scrap Left Behind".

As usual, I'm days behind the official beginning of the hop and playing catch up is fun!  There are so many wonderful ideas.....................like

featured on Needle and Foot blog--She took the idea from another free pattern

and ran with her idea!

Little nine patches!  what a great idea from Why Not Sew--

This is what friend Annette did with her small nine patch blocks--just

perfect scrap usage--in fact, she took all the birthday fat quarters we

had given her and made this lovely quilt!

Sew Something Good created this

Now, how could you not want to purchase this book?!! 

PLARN Anyone?

You can find Plarn anywhere!  I have several in my house; am sure you do too.  In some countries Plarn is banned!  Some grocery stores don't even offer Plarn anymore.  What is one to do without Plarn?!

Oh, you're asking--what is Plarn?  Plastic bag yarn--here you go--a tutorial!  and a video to assist
with the madness of creating Plarn!




Okay, you have your Plarn, what to do with it?  There are many suggestions--take a quick look
at Pinterst.  Here is a group that is turning Plarn into sleeping mats.
The next time I bring home one of those colorful plastic bags, it will become Plarn!!

Two--Two--For You On Tuesday!

Come Quilt Along with Joanne!

You can make two quilts at the same time?  What?

I'm all for that--when you are sewing why not be productive

with your squares.  While sewing this one, you can also

make this one--Here are the detailed directions--

sew on!  

Tangles, more tangles........................

Okay, so I'm working on my Intarsia Brawling Shawl pattern from April's

(yes, I know it's May, but I'm still stuck in April!) 'Year of Techniques'

projects.

I'm over half way finished--I'm on the down hill side of the pattern--decreases--

but as usual--with Intarsia there are tangles

and with this yarn, there are more tangles than I enjoy!  With Intarsia,

you twist the threads around each other as you meet--which means

every time you twist to seal the joint, you are create a tangle down the line.

I did have a problem with this yarn becoming untwisted in skein,

so I took the advice of someone smarter than me to place the yarn

in plastic bags--that problem was solved!  But, the twisting

and tangles---there is no way, there will be a quick solution.

Just finish........................

EPP!

Don't ever think you can't make something beautiful with a small piece of paper and fabric.  That's where EPP comes into play--That's English Paper Piecing!  Why is it called English Paper Piecing?

 Hexagon-based patterns became popular in England in the 1830s when Godey’s Lady’s Book published the first hexagon quilt pattern in 1835, it became very popular in “the Colonies”.  It was often called “English Paper Piecing” because anything British was deemed very elegant.

EPP or paper piecing doesn't necessary mean you have to use hexagons either--just search the internet and you will find all sorts of patterns that use squares, rectangles,etc. 

Here is an example of a 'smashing' look for EPP--this comes from my friend

Annette who has been working on this design for some time--she brings her

little scraps of fabric and paper to our gatherings and stitches away--

we finally saw the fruits of her labor when she threw out this

lovely garden of colors!!

We all admired the way she used the greens around her

flowers--not completely surrounded

You can see she still have some papers in the small hexagons--

time to lift them out now that she has completed the look

of walking through flowers

Another one of our gals, Judy, has been

working on her Grandmother's Flower Garden

EPP quilt for 12 years--much smaller squares though

But lovely all the same!  Here she is lifting out the paper

from her finished project--she will soon be working on the

borders--we are anxious to see the results.

Want to learn how to use this technique for your quilts--here is a tutorial.  This is definitely a
carry long project--

Holy SMokes!! Spindle CRANE??

Sheila Dixon of Hand Spinning News always has the neatest articles in her monthly newsletter!  There was this article in her March issue about Spindle Crane!  I'm like--What??  Holy Smokes!
This is something I need to investigate!  Taking a journey through the great world of the internet--I found interesting information about this innovative idea for spindle spinning from the hands of Adan Aikerman, who I found on Instagram.





Here is video of how this works!  I also found a group on Ravelry--Akerworks!  Man, the world of spindle spinning just got more creative and relaxing! This 'crane' is in testing phase now.

 "Adan got the idea to help allow spindle spinning while watching shows on the couch more relaxing. You simply place the AkerKate the edge of your coffee table or whatever is in front of you, place the spindle at the back of the pulley with the single going over the top of the pulley, give it a twirl, and draft in a position that would be similar to drafting at a wheel. The set up allows you to pull back your single and easily reach for the spindle when you need to give it another twirl or to wind on. As you spin the twist goes up and around the pulley. You can also pull the single towards you to help transition the twist if you aren’t getting the twist fast enough."  This quote from Evanita, moderator of the Ravelry.

Thanks Sheila for keeping us updated on timely matters!