Hi-Ho! Hi-Ho! It's off to work we go!

Big news! BIG! Grandma Coco's joined the staff at The Quilt Pattern Magazine. Yes! It's true! We're the new Copy Editor on the block.

Now, doesn't this sound like the perfect fit for Grandma Coco? She just loves to nitpick the finer points of spelling and grammar. She could be your worst nightmare if Cheryl didn't rein her in from time to time......in spite of the fact, that GC just spelled it "reign" and Cheryl had to google to correct her. That's one of the problems with setting yourself up as an expert. Every now and then, you're going to mess up and everybody's going to see you're human. Sigh. And in Grandma Coco's case ... extremely, spectacularly (and often) human.

You see, EVERYBODY makes a mistake now and then and really, as long as the meaning is still clear, what's the harm? Language is how we communicate. Obviously. Sometimes, we need to be careful in order to communicate clearly. Sometimes, we say something inadvertent with our grammar/spelling errors. We've been doing a lot of driving recently on the same stretch of highway and we pass a new roadside stand that offers "French fries and ice creme." Not ice cream. It's a spelling mistake, right? A simple spelling mistake. And yet, we can't help wondering if attention to correct spelling and attention to food handling safety, say, might be related. It just makes us wonder. But, hey, you all know by now Grandma Coco's not the most easy-going gal. She's a hypochondriac with (self-diagnosed) Generalized Anxiety Disorder who worries about waiters spitting in her food at the best of times. So it might just be us.

There are a couple of things we're sure of though ... Grandma Coco's going to make a few mistakes. Maybe more than a few. However, she's looking forward to her new duties at the magazine. She's always thought it was a great magazine with a terrific premise which is to offer good quilt designs (that have all been thoroughly tested for accuracy) and some interesting articles each month, at a good price AND offer them in a format that doesn't destroy the planet.

And that other thing we're sure of? ... There will be no spitting in the food at The Quilt Pattern Magazine.

Up to her armpits

Literally. The Santa Suit is rolling along. Just the sleeves and upper body and the hood to complete. It's an easy knit and we've already found the perfect buttons.

We have some yarn that we thought we'd like to use for the Papa Bear Sampler Scarf but we're not sure we're completely sold on it yet. It's not as soft as we'd have liked. It's nice enough but doesn't really conform to our knitting philosophy which is ... Life is too short to knit with crappy yarn. We're going to embroider that on a pillow some day. We make so few items in a year, it really is OK to make sure we use the good stuff. The knitting is much more pleasant.

We ordered some promising replacement fibre from Elann and kept tracking our shipment. Nothing. It was showing that it was in the postal system as of last Monday and ...nothing. Shoot. This would be the time when our order would get lost. And then, last evening, it hit the radar. In Ottawa. Yesterday at 1:15 pm. Yay!! We're hoping it will be delivered tomorrow. No big rush, really. We have an entire week before we start. (And just to be clear....we've always had terrific service from Elann.com with fast shipping and, no, the crappy yarn did not come from them.)

Copyright © Cheryl Coville 2011

A little teaser from the Nosey Nelly News.......

Monika once asked us what we did with all our drawings. We've never really worried much about that. They're fun to do. They make us happy. However, we may just have found another use for them. Stay tuned. Grandma Coco may soon have something exciting to announce. Doesn't that sound mysterious?

What can this be?

When we were little we used to watch Razzle Dazzle on TV. Bonus points to anyone who remembers who the host was. Hint: He's Canadian and he was married (maybe still is, for all we know) to Suzanne Somers. Every so often they'd show a hugely magnified picture of an everyday object and we'd be asked to identify it. Today, we're going to play a variation on that game......what can this red and white object be?

Give up?  It's one leg of a Santa sleeper, of course.

We found the pattern here. Isn't it just the cutest thing? And we know just the cutie to wear it this Christmas. The only problem is getting the size right since we need to start knitting now and she's got this annoying habit of GROWING!! :)  It's like trying to hit a moving target.

To make the project just a little bit more interesting, we want to use some yarn we have in our stash and it's not the same gauge AT ALL as the alpaca yarn the pattern calls for. Hmmmmm. This is going to call for some fancy footwork! For every school kid ....especially artsy kids.....who wonder what on earth the point is of mathematics when all they want to do is draw or paint or be creative.... we say this: Not a day goes by that we don't thank our lucky stars for math. We use geometry in quiltmaking when we design new blocks and we use basic arithmetic in knitting. Every day. We could not manage without them. Without a good background in math, a creative person would be doomed to forever follow someone else's pattern/design. And a creative person would soon go mad doing that.

So, here we are....we want to make this Santa sleeper and we want to make it from Knitpicks Crayon which we have in our stash. 100% cotton and soft, soft, soft. The colour we have is called RED. Not sure if it's available now because the only red on the site is now called Fiesta. RED is a real Christmas red so it's just what the doctor ordered. For the white fur trim, we found a furry novelty yarn at WalMart that's called Pipsqueak by Bernat.

The pattern comes with a schematic and that's what we used as a guide. After reading through and seeing how it's put together we just recalculated all our measurements using the results of our gauge swatch. Easy peasy. The novelty yarn is wildly different and required a couple of attempts to get the drape we liked. We're knitting it very loosely on larger needles (6mm) with only 28 stitches to start (instead of the 40 that you'd need with 2 strands of the alpaca the pattern calls for), increasing to 48 when we change to the red Crayon and 4mm needles. (We're aiming for the 12/18 month size.)

You can imagine how delighted we were to find that when we completed the first leg and slipped all the stitches onto waste yarn to wait for its mate, all the measurements corresponded to the schematic exactly!! We're on our way.

As well, we offer photographic proof that the sock is growing. We've finished the heel flap in the Eye of Partridge stitch and are now about to pick up stitches along each edge. We are weighing our skein of yarn obsessively hoping we'll have enough yarn for both socks. It would be a shame to have to rip back to shorten the leg. (And yes, we know that's why people like toe-up. We just happen to like the tubular cast-on.)

News Flash!! We are very excited to announce we're planning something special in the next few days..... a knit along! Stay tuned for the details.....especially if you've got a MAN on your Christmas list.  Er, we mean, if you're knitting for a man this Christmas, that is .... not asking Santa for one. :)

A New-fangled Double Wedding Ring



Double Wedding Ring Made Easy Workshop Copyright © Cheryl Coville 2011



It's time for another in-depth report from the Nosey Nelly News' Intrepid Reporter Grandma Coco. Always on the prowl for a hot tip, she got a sizzler from Nan, the Marketing Director at The Quilt Pattern Magazine. The June issue of the magazine is out! And one of the features this month is a workshop put together by our very own Cheryl.

GC: Cheryl, you’re usually such a Shrinking Violet on this blog. Tell us what your workshop is all about.

C: Well, Grandma Coco, I really don’t think I shrink so much as I’m overshadowed but, since you asked….It’s an innovative way to make a Double Wedding Ring Quilt, one block at a time, quilting it as we go. I’ve always loved the Double Wedding Ring but the traditional approach is very fussy and precise.

GC: Hmmm….those aren’t words I’d use to describe you.

C: True! One morning as I was waking up, it hit me that there’s an easier way to go about it. Quilt-as-you go! With foundation piecing AND freezer paper appliqué. Easy peasey! The workshop is in 6 parts starting this month in The Quilt Pattern Magazine.

GC: Cool! What’s this month’s part about?

C: This month, the introduction, is all about gathering your supplies and getting ready. The whole workshop is broken down into manageable parts, so that step by step, we’ll go from the basic block to more exciting variations. If you follow along, you can end up making a complete crib-sized quilt…..not just a quilt top you’ll have to quilt later. No. A completely (some might say painlessly) quilted baby quilt. 

GC: Sounds intriguing. How do we get started?

C: Just head on over to The Quilt Pattern Magazine and set up a subscription. It's an online magazine so there's no delay, no waiting for the mail man. You'll get the June issue and everything you need to know is right there in the magazine. You can work on the workshop at your own pace and on your own schedule.

GC: Is there anything else you`d like to mention?

C: Yes, actually, once you’ve subscribed to The Quilt Pattern Magazine, you can join Pattern Pastiche which is a social group for subscribers to the magazine where quilters can make friends and show off photos of their quilts. There’s a discussion group set up especially for the Double Wedding Ring Made Easy workshop.  I’ll be hanging around there, listening in and ready to help if there are any questions. But  the workshop is really an exploration. There are so many variations on the basic Double Wedding Ring, I’ll be very interested to hear what the workshoppers come up with in terms of suggestions and innovations of their own. The workshop is a stepping off point. I fully expect once quilters get going, we’ll see an explosion of creativity.

GC: So, that’s the scoop on The Double Wedding Ring Made Easy Workshop. Remember folks, Coco knows! And now, so do you.

Practice makes if-not-perfect then, at least, not-so-bad

We're still practicing. Each day, we have to loosen up and slide into it again. It's a little bit, 2 steps forward and 1 step back. We've begun to realize that the imperfections lend a little character. All need not be perfect. In fact, we like the organic look. Here's a photo from 2 days ago. No work was accomplished yesterday so this morning's session was more like 2 steps forward, 2 steps back but that was short-lived and we were soon back on track.

We purchased the magic machine needle yesterday that promises to allow us to embroider with the blue thread. We thought we'd finish the black outlining of the text before we test that out. Stay tuned.



Copyright © Cheryl Coville 2011

 And now, a flash from the Nosey Nelly News .............

If you've ever thought that there might be gender biases at play in the world of art and literature, you'll find a kindred spirit over on Heather's blog. She's taking part in a blog tour for a new book that's being published by Tundra books. Apparently, Nathaniel Hawthorne....you know, the fellow who wrote The Scarlet Letter... once complained to his publisher about the annoying habit of women "scribbling".  We guess he thought that writing was a man's game. Canadian writer, Marthe Jocelyn has written a book entitled Scribbling Women which tells the stories of eleven such women. Heather has undertaken an amazing project of her own. You can read about it on her blog and you can even take part if you'd like to. She's organizing a virtual quilting bee, in a sense. Check her out. It's going to be fun to watch her progress on this quilt.

Illustration Friday - Cultivate



Copyright © Cheryl Coville 2011



Cultivate makes us think of seeds and flowers

and tonight at 7:23:21 EST Spring Arrives!!

Copyright © Cheryl Coville 2011

Grandma Coco's got another scoop for you.  The Quilt Pattern Magazine is running a contest for anyone who belongs to a quilt guild. The prize is a free subscription to the magazine.
Get the low-down here: http://www.quiltpatternmagazine.com/program/guild.html 

Good Luck!!

Grandma Coco Gets the Scoop on… Machine Quilting With Monika Kinner-Whalen

Copyright © Cheryl Coville 2011

Grandma Coco’s been quilting for a long time. Up until now she’s  always been more of an old-school quilter.  However, as life speeds up and time runs out, she’s finally looking to kick it up a notch. She’s ready to machine quilt a whole quilt…. well, she’s starting with a baby quilt….and she’s gone looking for some advice.

Monika Kinner-Whalen

Monika Kinner-Whalen is a fellow Canadian who lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan with her family of 5. She maintains a visually beautiful and informative blog called My Sweet Prairie and if you click on that link and visit her, you’ll see that she does beautiful machine quilting.  Just like Grandma Coco would like to do. So, our intrepid reporter set out to get the scoop.

GC: First, tell us a little about yourself, Monika, and how you came to quilting.

 

MK-W:  I am an artist who has always loved to sew.  I began quilting just because I really wanted a quilt and didn't know anyone who made them.  So I'm completely self-taught (by internet and library).  I've never taken a class or had a live teacher.  It's a lot like trying to attain a correspondence degree!  The 'addiction' is my drive.  I've been quilting seriously, daily, for about 3 years, trying to learn as much as I can along the way.  About a year ago I discovered that you can sew art.  I've had two exhibits since that time, and have two upcoming this year as well!  I'm on a roll and loving it!

GC: How do you prepare your quilt top for machine quilting? Do you use spray starch?

MK-W: I press it really well with lots of steam.  I'm a perfectionist and I want NO ripples.  I press the backing too.  I typically use flannelette on the backs and low loft bamboo batt.  I spend a lot of time clipping every little thread, front and back, especially if I have white in my quilt top.  Stray colours show right through.

GC:  Where do you layer your quilt? Do you need to stretch the fabric taut?

MK-W:  I layer my quilt on our huge kitchen table.  I put the quilt top face down on the table first, then the batt, then the flannelette.  Why?  Because no one taught me how to do otherwise.  Lol. You know, books and magazines tell you how to make a quilt top and that's all.  They leave you with "quilt as desired".  From the centre out, I spread the backing flat and smooth with my hands. I go around the table a few times.  Then I grab one side of all layers with both hands, and pull and flip the whole thing over, top up.  I do the same thing to the top: smoothing, smoothing....  I flip again to smooth the back, and  layers seem to cling.  I've never had bunching or buckling on the backs of my quilts, so I'm happy with my technique.  I've done over 75 quilts this way.  

GC: You don’t use pins? or that spray basting glue? 

MK-W: I use quilting pins - they look like bent safety pins.  I bought cheap ones first, and the tips were rough and RIPPED holes in my quilt top AND left black grease stained holes at that!  ***Worst moment of my life.***

I don't spray baste.  We have birds and if they can die from it, then I don't want to breathe it.  I recently purchased fusible batting, but I still pin baste a bit - at least a couple per block.

GC:  How do you handle the bulk of the quilt as you move it through your machine?

 

MK-W: Haha!  I couldn't handle it.  It drove me crazy.  I now own a machine with an 11 inch throat.  Life is better.  I kind of fold the quilt over as I need to for straight line or ditch quilting.  With free motion, I bunch it out of the way.  I quilt on a big table space so nothing is ever falling off the table and pulling everything down.  That's too frustrating for me.  

GC:  What kind of needle, thread and tension settings? What machine foot do you prefer? Stitch length?

Daisy Daisy (Modern Dresden) 2010

MK-W:  For straight line/ditch quilting, I use the same weight/brand of thread in top and bottom.  I leave the tension as is, on auto unless there's a problem.  I use a quilting or sometimes a jeans needle.  I really prefer the stitch length of 3.5.  Smaller looks too small to me, and bigger looks too simple.  I have an even feed open toe foot.  That's my favourite.  Nothing shifts, and I can see where I'm stitching.  I tried a ditch foot, but didn't trust it.  That's just me.  The accufeed foot is so wide.  I like to use the side of it as a guide for straight line quilting.  Oh!  I also really like to use decorative stitches for straight or circle quilting, especially with variegated threads!!  : )  I did this on Daisy Daisy, and on the quilt that was in Quilter's Connection Magazine.

GC. I know you start with quilting in the ditch. How do you handle the thread tails when you start and stop?

MK-W: I start by stitching between all rows and columns in the ditch, between each block.  Then I remove all pins.  The stitching begins and ends at the very edge of the quilt, so the threads get trimmed when I square the quilt and bind it.  When I quilt after this point, I pull up both threads to the top and stitch on the spot before moving on.  Those ends get clipped.  When I'm done that line, I knot off and trim from the back.  

GC:  How much quilting is enough?

MK-W: That's a great question!  I love the look of lots of pretty quilting, but too much makes quilts so stiff and flat.  I prefer those techniques for wall hangings.  I like the quilt I cuddle with to be supple, so I don't overquilt.  I could quilt more on mine.  I stop when I get scared that I'm going to wreck it.  Does that happen to you?  (Oops- here I am asking the questions.  lol)  I also like the quilting to enhance and embellish the quilt top.  People are always surprised how different a quilt looks after it's been quilted.  Personally, I'm tired of seeing flat unquilted tops on the internet!  lol  Quilt it, decorate it, use coloured threads...

St. Niklolaus Quilt 2010

GC: Any other tips?

MK-W: TIP 1 - Sometimes if I'm not sure about how to quilt next, I'll lay out some thread on the top so I can visualize how it would change the quilt.  Lay white thread in lines, or loop a bunch of variegated pink, lay parallel lines of red... Audition first to avoid having to pull out the seam ripper. 

TIP 2 - If you are regretting what you've just quilted, then STOP and take it out.  It's not going to change just because you chose to quilt more.  I learned that one the hard way.  lol

TIP 3 - Clean your machine before quilting, and half way through if you are using flannelette.  The one class I did take was "Machine Maintenance".  Best money I ever spent.  Don't use canned forced air.  Use a vacuum attachment to suck out all the lint.  You can get these at a sewing store.  Your quilting will be so much smoother.

TIP 4 - I always wear my quilting gloves with grippy fingers when I quilt.  They aren't just for free motion.  They give you so much control for precision straight-line or ditch quilting.  I won't quilt without them!

GC: Monika this has been a terrific help. Thank you. You’re always so busy on your blog with lots going on. Care to share what’s coming up for you?

MK-W - My fibre art will be exhibited at the Gardenscapes 2011 Art Show & Sale in Saskatoon and I have 2 quilts with the Saskatoon Quilt Guild on display for sale at McNally Robinson's Booksellers in Saskatoon Feb 23 to mid-May 2011.

My second quilt pattern will be published in the Summer 2011 issue of A Needle Pulling Thread magazine.  That quilt will be displayed at their booth at the Spring CreativFestival in Toronto, Ontario, too!  

My Sweet Prairie Postcard 2010

I have my etsy store as well.  http://www.mysweetprairie.etsy.com  It's very minimal.  I am putting more patterns up for sale there along with a few quilts.  From it, I always seem to have a fibre art commission on the go.  I blog daily though!  My blog is the heart of My Sweet Prairie.  There are links to all my photos, all my work, and some tutorials as well.  A fun feature has been "Tips on Tuesdays" where there is a weekly topic.  People are welcome to chime in and leave their own tips on that topic.  It's become a great learning circle for everyone!

GC: Well, it seems like you’ve come a very long way in 3 years! It will be fun to see where you go from here. Thanks for taking the time to share your machine quilting knowledge with us. I know Grandma Coco is feeling a little more comfortable about tackling that baby quilt.

(All colour photos on this blog post were generously provided by Monika and belong to her.)