hmm what should I buy?

Pick me Pick Me! What a beautiful site you have! I am so glad to have found you. Thanks so much for having a giveaway Bren

Thanks Brenda for leaving such a cheery comment!!

I was taught to press seams to one side generally to the dark and to nest the seams when connecting blocks together, this seems to be the proper way or the way most quilters sew.

A year or so ago I was reading about quilters starting to press seams open, then I was struggling with a complicated block and my friend Beth said to press my seams open and boy did that ever make a difference. Less bulk, it lays so much flatter especially when you have multiple pieces.

I also had the privilege recently to take a lecture or two and a workshop by Fun Quilts, Bill Kerr and they press their seams open and always have. They do this to relieve bulk. If they have no concerns about pressing their seams open and commissioning their quilts in upwards of $5000K they must be onto something....

There was some debate recently at a quilt guild meeting regarding this. One lady mentioned that pressing the seams open may make the seam vulnerable, another person agreed but if you think about it, Seamstresses and Sewers press their seams open all of the time to relieve bulk. Some sewers will finish their seams in  "french" style or zigzag over the seam allowances to ensure they are secure or even use a serger so the seam allowance doesn't become frayed. You likely wouldn't use a serger when quilting because this will definitely add bulk to the seam and plus you will be quilting through all 3 layers to finish the quilt and secure the blocks in place at the end.

I was taught to sew pressing the seams open, thanks Susan.

I was taught to press my seams to one side when quilting, thanks to all of you quilting experts and teachers out there :)

I've decided to press seams open and or to press in the direction that will make my block sit flat and to reduce bulk, if that means to press to one side, I will do that, if that means to press the seam open, I will do that.

Since I've started teaching with Chinook Learning Services, I've decided to teach my students to press their seams open, so far :)

What do you do? Press Open or to one side and Why?

Until next time, have a happy and creative day!

Is it wrong for one Quilt Shop Owner to visit another quilt shop? Deanna and I had a fab time together, she taught me all about Locker Hooking and I taught her all about Temari Balls. She was an absolute delight.

Here's what I bought, all of the stuff I need to get started "hooking" as Deanna put it!

The book, with adorable stories and designs

the mesh: you use as your base

the hook: to pull your fabric through and the twine

Twine: used to keep fabric from coming through the mesh, you don't see it when your finished.

So now that I have a new love, have you tried this before... I need to go and find some scraps...see you later :)

Love, love, love it. your site that is. Sure glad p.s. i quilt sent me here. Better post this so I can go check out more of your postings. Sandy

Sure nice to have commenters like you :)

I did a small poll a couple of blogs back asking if you would mind if I got a little personal...

so for my first somewhat personal blog posting, I'm loving my life

I started this business of my (my 2nd venture) over a year ago, committed myself to blogging

about the same time and boy I'm hooked. My hubby Jeff is such a wonderful

supporter of my love for being online and what I do plus he's a TechGuy so he 

totally gets being connected and needing WiFi :)

When we were away camping last Friday, I was taking some time stitching outside, sitting in the sun

smelling the new fresh mountain air, enjoying the warmth on my face when I hear a snap

in the woods beside me...I look over and there is a deer not 10 feet away, a little babes,

munching on some leaves...just strolling through feeling completely safe...we were in the provincial

forest/park where they should feel completely safe but this baby deer had not a care in the world

 I had a moment, so connected with nature... complete contentment being able to sit and watch this

adorable little deer doing my hobby...bliss

Then I go to grab more floss as I'm stitching, watching the baby deer, pic up the floss and

there is a small grey squirrel just sitting and looking at me

my friend D said..."you were like Dr. Doolittle"...well not exactly

but these smaller things and simpler things in life make everything worth something don't they?

Our Open House was a huge success so thanks to everyone who took the time to stop by and say "hi" it meant the world to me to see so much support. I especially want to thank the Airdrie Quilt Guild for coming out such a ways and spending some time getting to know more about Pastimes Online, I would love to come out to your guild one of these days and meet everyone!! Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos when the room was full of women because...I was just too darn busy...

We own a holiday trailer and have been out doing some camping so I've been away from my sweet machine "cherry" and I miss her but the last couple of nights have been great because I've sewn 2 blocks for the Journey of a Quilter block of the month club and I'm getting ready to sit down and sew this afternoon...doesn't it feel good to just sit and sew? It's my true calling, lol!

A Kittens Tale Block 4 finished, but notice anything...lol I'm keeping it this way, I got busy chatting and stitching with my Mum and because the brown silk is so dark I couldn't pre-trace the letters so I winged it *smile* too funny!

Here's Tig, it's about 1am and I'm still sewing, pressing, sewing, pressing, "just one more seam" I say to her...she's tired and wants to go to bed, what a great pal to have hanging out during late sewing nights :)

Love you Tig.

I come across these things all of the time and I'm going to start sharing them with all of you...sometimes I'm not sure how "personal" to get on my blog but then sometimes I read personal things on YOUR blogs and think...huh that's happened to me too or something similar, so from now on I'm going to start sharing a few little tidbits about what I'm thinking with you that isn't quilting related...I hope that's okay?

This Segment will be called "Me Mondays"

For today...I wanted to share this video that I can't stop thinking about and I've wanted to post this for sometime it's from Sheila's Blog as she provides me with so much inspiration...

Tell me your thoughts - is this real? Are the proportions correct? Truly Humbling.

One More Sleep until the BIG event!! I'm so excited to meet all of you who have the chance to stop by! :)

I'm having a small Impromptu Open House and I'm so happy to invite all of you to stop by and enjoy!! 

Saturday July 10th from 10-4 pm, come out, have some refreshments, play and try all of our great tools and hopefully be inspired!!

Also stop at Lorraine Stagness' Mini Quilt Show in Strathmore happening the same day!!

If you think you can stop by let me know your coming - that would be AWESOME!!

These adorable little balls had me at "hello".

I found this book which I had to have...You can buy it here. It's chalked full of all of the info you need to get you started, basics, advanced and so much more!

 Then I had to have this book because of this adorable image

and all of the images inside are so inspiring it was a must buy :) You can purchase it here

A couple of websites for more inspiration and of course

you can google: temari ball images and be blown away.

http://www.temarikai.com/

http://www.japanesetemari.com/gallery.htm

They are small, like the size of a baseball or slightly smaller but you can pretty much make them the size you want :)

Here's the first one I've finished and the second one I've started:

Don't you just want to hold them? They make you feel good :)

A Kittens Tale Block 5 I'm falling in total love with this quilt, it's quite involved with all of the piecing and applique but so worth it.

Until next time, have a happy and creative weekend!

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