How to fight Lex Luther using only fabric

Let's Talk... Fat Quarters. Very Briefly.

by Joanne Hillestad on 12/11/18

Let's Talk Fat Quarters

Fat Quarters are right up my alley. lol

A standard fat quarter is a 1/2 yard wide and half the width of the bolt tall.
Which makes it a Fat, Quarter Yard of Fabric... get it?
Roughly 18" x 22" max.

To be safe... I always assume I only have 17" x 19" of usable fabrics when planning.
That way, if I have a crooked cut it should be ok.
Plus, not all bolts of fabric are the same width.

Fat Quarters are often available individually or in pre-packaged bundles from a collection.
This makes them easy and fun to grab when visiting your favorite quilt shops.

There are many patterns available that use fat quarters.
Most also need a border, sashing or accent fabric.

Here are a few by the FQ Gypsy and Swirly Girls Design:

First up in Tabitha by the Fat Quarter Gypsy.
This uses 12 fat quarters and 2 borders.
It goes together quickly.

Next we have Fat Quarter Four-Patch by Swirly Girls Design.
This is a fun Dashing Bobbin pattern.
It have 4 sizes using from 15 FQs for the lap size to 50 FQs for the king size!

Lastly, we have Cosmos by Swirly Girls Design.
Cosmos uses 5 FQs for the spinning stars and 1 FQ for the accent pinwheels.
Just add a background and border!

So, that ends my very brief talk about fat quarters.

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Have You Met my Chickens?

by Joanne Hillestad on 12/10/18

Good Evening Everyone!

Tonight I am going to introduce you to my chickens. I have 4. I have had many, but only 4 remain. I lost 6 in a coop fire. That was not a good day. A few got sick or died of old age. I had to cull one... well, my husband Mike did the deed. I couldn't do it. Poor Sally was so sick and nothing was helping. This is the life of a chicken Mom.

Here are my first chickens when they were babies...

But the bad days are few and far between. Most days are fun! Chickens are a hoot. They follow you around the yard like you are their best friend. They eat ticks and other bugs. Earthworms are extra yummy! In general, they are funny and I love having them! Plus, they supply eggs. Yeah!

So, let's meet them!

First up in Phyllis. He is my Polish Rooster. Yes, I said he. We were told he was a hen... but no. Phyllis used to have a brother named Diller. Phyllis and Diller... you will understand why when you see his picture.

Next are Blondie and Zoe (and Bob Ross peeking behind them)

and Lastly... Bob Ross... the hen.

So, there they are! My chickens.

Remember...

Life Is Too Short Not To Have Chickens!!!

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Oops... Friday Blog Post Fail

by Joanne Hillestad on 12/08/18

Yesterday's blog post was an epic fail... i just didn't have the energy to do anything last night. I was busy all day on Friday at work. I spent most of the day hanging out with Toni Smith of Quiltoni as the sponsor for her St. Jude's Fundraising Live Stream on Twitch. It was a lot of fun!

Toni was working on a wire-framed tote while I hung out and chatted with her and everyone watching live! Toni has such a fun group of peeps! She will be live again on Sunday around 9am EST --> Click here to jump to Toni's Twitch stream. She will be working on a new pattern design... I am working on an advance copy of the pattern as a "tester". lol. If you have boys or young men to sew for... this new pixel quilt will be a fun one! You'll have to tune in to find out more!

Until later today...

Happy Sewing Everyone!

Jo

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I'm Hungry For Cookies...

by Joanne Hillestad on 12/06/18

Let's Talk Christmas Cookies

I have a craving for frosted sugar cookies... a bad craving.
So, since I need to blog about something, why not share my favorite holiday recipes?

I have no pictures of baked cookies, I am trying very hard to resist this temptation.
But I will share pictures from my actual cookbook from 8th grade Home Ec class.
I sold dozens of cookbooks in 8th grade so I could go on a field trip to
Betty Crocker in Minneapolis in 9th grade.
It was a great field trip.
I listened to my Madonna cassette tape all the way there and back
(about 3 hours each way from Duluth in 1985).
Magical Field Trip... Magical!

So, to all of my neighbors and relatives who bought cookbooks in 1984, thank you!

The first 2 recipes are from my Grandma Mary.

Mary's Sugar Cookies

These are the best... no other sugar cookies even compare.

Next up is
Grandma Mary's Spritz

I'm starting to feel a strong pull to my stand mixer and baking ingredients...

Lastly is a recipe my Mother In Law introduced me to... no idea if it is a family recipe or just a good one she found somewhere.
I'm going to guess this is supposed to be the famous cake from the Waldorf Astoria Hotel... but who knows??
Waldorf Cake and Frosting

and because I love cookies and cakes so much this time of year... I bought myself a new cookbook today.
My doctor suggested it at my visit in June... Ugh.

Happy Holiday Baking Everyone!

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Wednesday Wow... A Cool Tool and a Tip!

by Joanne Hillestad on 12/05/18

Wednesday Wow - The Stripology Rulers

It is Wednesday and I have decided that every Wednesday will be... Wednesday Wow!
I will find something cool to WOW you with! It might be a tip... a tool... another designer... you'll have to check in and see!

Today it is a Tool and a Tip!

This ruler is the Stripology Ruler by Creative Grids.

Of all of my specialty rulers, this is BY FAR my favorite.
I use if for all strip cutting... especially if I need to subcut squares or rectangles from those strips.
The accuracy is so much better than with a standard ruler. It is a little crazy.

I'm not going to give you a full tutorial here... there are great instructions that come with the ruler.
The instructions are also available here.

Instead, I have a tip for you!
When I use the ruler I am almost always cutting a lot of squares.
Lots and Lots of squares. It makes very short work on this task. LOVE IT!

However, it is easy to use the wrong slot by accident.

OH NO!

I have a tip to help solve that issue... and it is so easy.
Plus, it involves office supplies... which I love. I truly LOVE Office Depot.

Ok, back to tip.

I use peel and stick arrows... like the ones they use when you buy a house. You know, the arrow stickers pointing to where to sign your life away.

I line one up at each slot I am going to use across the bottom edge.
Since they are peel and stick and peel and stick and...
I use them until the stickiness totally dies. That is a lot of times!

You can also use regular sticky notes too... just draw an arrow on it and cut apart into smaller pieces.

Works like a charm!
Here I have a larger, in-action shot:

There are 2 additional Stripology rulers available:

This is the Stripology Squared Ruler

This is the Stripology Mini Ruler.

You can find these rulers at your local quilt shop!

Here are a few patterns that the Stripology Ruler would work well with...

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