November Star

I would love to introduce you to my friend Zlaty, who now lives in my homestate of PA. She is expecting a baby, and she loves quilting. You can visit her blog at Zlaty Sews. Now, just sit back, have a cuppa, and enjoy her interview. I am presenting it today, as tomorrow, I will be leaving very early for the hospital. Please do visit Zlaty, you won't regret it...she is a sweetheart and such a talented lady.

Interview:

Name: My Name is Zlatka Boyd but people call me Zlaty. In Bulgarian my name means "golden".

A Bit About Me: I was born in Bulgaria, but I live in PA, USA now. I am expecting my first child in January. Before moving to the US, I graduated from a clothing design school in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. After moving here, I learned about quilting from my mother-in-law and now its my passion! I recently published my first quilting design, "Candy Table Runner".

What Inspires Me: I am inspired by nature. I always take my camera with me when I go for my daily walks and when I travel. My favorite outdoor scenery is by the ocean.

What I Love To Do Most Creatively: I love to quilt, what a surprise! ;-)

My Favorite Fabric and Designer: I love bright fabrics and don't really have a favorite designer. If I had to pick one, I would say I am fond of Heather Bayley's fabric.

UFO I Intend To Finish: I am working right now on a binding for a baby quilt I am going to use as a wall hanging for the nursery. Of course, I have several projects in the works. Currently, I have a blue and yellow quilt on my quilting frame.

What's on the Design Wall:Nothing right now.I'm working to finish a couple of projects, so I am concentrating on quilting some of the quilt tops I have done.

Who Would I Love to Meet:I would love to meet some of my blogging friends!

If I Had One Wish: I would wish that my family could live close by. I miss them often.

Plans for the Future:Having my baby; the sooner, the better! :-) I plan to design & publish more quilting patterns in the near-future.
Thank you!

What a nice interview Zlaty and thanks so much for being such a special star!!! I know everyone will love seeing the pics of your work.

Birthday Giveaway Winner and Second Dresden Finished With the GO

Sarah from Confessions of a Fabric Addict emailed me that I won her Birthday Giveaway. I won Moda Sweet Treat Mini Honeybuns. I was just tickled pink, and I do thank you again so much Sarah. I am beginning to think that someone is telling me that even though my legs are a mess, I am lucky in other ways. I am listening...LOL

I finished my other Dresden Pillowcase and wanted to show you a pic of the two with my Sylvia Bridal Sampler. They look great with that quilt, even though I made them for the circle quilt I will be making with the GO circle dies. I have had some people, who are new to my blog, ask me about the Sylvia Bridal Sampler. The sampler has 140 traditional 6 inch blocks. It took me four months to complete, and I loved every minute that I worked on it. If you love a sampler, you will love making this quilt. It came from a book that was written by Jennifer Chiaverini, and may I say that I am also a great fan of her Elm Creek Series of books. What a buzz I got from that quilt....I doubt if any other quilt will do that for me.

The first book of her series about Sarah reminded me so much of how I felt when I left PA and came to Ireland...There were a lot of things in that book that I related to.
Now, to remind you, that I finished those pillowcases with the AccuQuilt Go Dresden die. Keep in mind, I would have finished them so much quicker if it were not for my darn legs...With the GO, you can finish anything in no time.....You will be like Speedy Gonzalez!

Enjoy Samhain or Halloween as you know it....Don't be too scared...LOL

Two Parcels Arrive and Samhain in Ireland

If you remember, I won two giveaways in the Fall to Fall Quilter's Giveaway. Both arrived at the same time. What a lovely surprise!
First of all I got this incredible Halloween pillow, and boy did it arrive at the right time...right before Halloween weekend. It may look like it is the size of a pincushion, but it is a small pillow size...How cute is that! It arrived all the way from the beautiful state of Montana. Thanks to Wendy from Why Knot Quilt for the cutest pillow ever!

Then Thearica from Pigtales and Quilts sent me a wonderful package. As you can see, I received two shelf sitters...so, so cute, a wonderful quilt book, a huge ball of yarn which I will use to make myself a scarf for the winter, lovely fabric, buttons, and thread. Thanks so much Thearica for such a lovely surprise! I was reading the book, and just loved so many of the patterns.

As to Halloween here in Ireland, all the festivities will occur this weekend. We call the holiday Samhain. In the ancient Celtic world of Ireland, Samhain was the end of the summer and the beginning of winter, a time of long and cold nights and for many a portent of death. As these two periods crossed over at Samhain, the dead supposedly returned to the mortal world, and so large communal fires were lit to ward off evil spirits. These festivals of fire would also include a Feile na Marbh, a festival of the dead. In parts of Ireland, it was believed that a puca, or mischievous sprite would cast spells on unsuspecting folk. Around Ireland, there are many celebrations. One of the biggest ones is held in the city of Derry, and it is called the Banks of the Foyle Halloween Carnival. In our capital city of Dublin, Samhain is done in a flamboyant style with a huge parade from Parnell Square along O'Connell Street and finishing in Temple Bar in a kind of carnival of all things ghostly and ghoulish. Here in Dunfanaghy, there will be a wee parade, magic shows, face painting, costumes, traditional music, scary storytelling, fireworks, and spooky Halloween games.

The Irish love to celebrate Samhain, and I know you will all enjoy yours too.

Pollyanna Checking In With My Dresden Pillowcase Made With the AccuQuilt Go

Thanks for all of you writing to me!Let me explain... The problem with my left leg is that I can't put it down in a 90 degree position the way we usually sit. I have to prop it up. Also, my right leg is hurting as I have been putting too much pressure on it, so as to avoid using my left leg as much. Well, I wanted to finish my Dresden pillowcase. I was in a very good Pollyanna mood, except for wanting to sew so badly. Joe put his thinking cap on and then put a plastic box under my sewing table the height of a stool, so I could prop my leg up, and although it was hurting a bit, I managed to finish one of the Dresden pillowcases. Funny enough, Greg from Flat Out Quilting emailed me and suggested that I use a stool to prop up my leg. I told him that "great minds think alike." Thanks Greg!

I used this video to do a tube pillowcase...You have to see this...It is such an easy way to make a pillowcase, and mine turned out so nicely. Here is the link.Anyways, the pillowcase is going to match the circle quilt that I will be making. I can't stay at the machine for too long, but at least we figured out a way for me to sew a bit at a time. I did the Dresden by hand sitting in my lounge chair with my leg propped up, and I will be doing a lot more hand sewing as my friend Kathy suggested. I love hand sewing alot and took some wonderful courses in the Dutch Country where I learned so many hand quilting skills. I have to admit that I love hand sewing of any kind more than machine quilting.

Glad that so many of you love Pollyannna. It is a good way to go through life with a smile on one's face. Joe is a bit worried, and I haven't been able to make him smile, as Simone asked me.

I know why he is especially worried. His mom went to the hospital for a heart problem , but she landed up dying of septicemia or blood poisoning due to her stay in the hospital. Understandibly, he does not want me going for surgery, and I told him that I won't unless there is no other alternative, so I am hoping that the surgeon will give me an alternative solution. I will have to see what the MRI shows. I really don't want my leg propped up all my life, so we will have to see.

Hope you like the Dresden pillow. I have the other one to do over the next day or two. With the AccuQuilt GO, the whole process was so much easier. I have cut out all the 63 circles for my circle quilt and fused them to the blocks using Heat and Bond Lite, so I will have to get that done slowly but surely. Of course without the leg problems, the quilt would go chic choc. At least Joe figured out how I could sew a bit.

Thanks for all of your caring emails!

Latest News About My Leg

I have some bad news....I had a setback...My leg had a severe lock today. I was sitting and forgot to put my leg up on a stool, and it locked very severely. Don't ask what the pain was like...It was excruciating for the half hour it took me to unlock my leg, and after I unlocked it, the pain is still there from trying to unlock it. I am seeing the surgeon on Monday. I will ask to have the MRI then to see what is going on as my injury was three months ago. Sadly, no sewing till I see the surgeon and see what he finds out.Joe made that very clear.LOL Can you believe that? I win a GO, and now I can't sew. The fabric for the pillowcases arrived from the Fat Quarter Shop, and I was going to cut it out, when I sat down to read the directions of how to do a tube pillow, and bam....my leg locks. I'm beginning to think I am jinxed. I have this sinking feeling that I will have to have surgery.
Well, I will tell you what happens on Monday. I am going to try to put my Pollyannna attitude into high gear, and really try to concentrate on the good things. Did you ever see that movie? It seemed to have a big effect on me as a person after watching it several times. I found myself always saying over the years, "I could have worse. There are people with so much worse." Pollyanna used to play the "glad game" where she tried to find something to be glad about in any situation. Ok, so here is how the "glad game" works.... I may need surgery, but then I get spoiled by Joe, buy myself one or two Wii games to play from my lounge chair, and basically get spoiled rotten. I have to admit that the Pollyanna attitude has gotten me some weird looks from Joe, who definitely doesn't see life through Pollyanna eyes. Thinking like Pollyanna has gotten me through a lot like cancer and a whole lot of other things. Ok, both my knees are shot...that is the reality of it, and this recent fall did not help, but I will do what I need to do and try to just get through it all the best way I can. I did smile when I looked up Pollyanna's pic...It brought back a lot of memories.When looking at the pic, do you remember that film? Well, it did make me smile today.....Now, if only I could get Joe to smile.
So keep your fingers crossed for me....a little luck wouldn't hurt.Where did the luck of the Irish go?

A Wee Tour of Our Area

A new friend of mine named Bridgette asked me to post some pics of our area.Joe and I took a

nice walk this morning and he took pics . First of all, I will show you pics of the area around our town. It is gorgeous here in Dunfanaghy. We are located right by the sea, and there are four beaches in our area: Killahoey Beach, Portnablaugh, Marble Hill and Tramore Beach. Our cottage is near Killahoey Beach, and the views are stunning.

You can see some of the incredible beaches we have and the hills surrounding our village. You can see our village here to the left with Muckish Mountain in the distance. There is an incredible peace and beauty here.

Our village is very small, but we are very lucky to have found our home here. Now, I will give you a bit of a peak at our village close up. Joe took a pic of our larger Hotel which is called Arnolds Hotel, but we also have a smaller hotel across the street from it. There is also a pic of our craft shop called McAulliffes, one of our pubs, but we have other businesses on our main street like two Chinese Restaurants, two coffee shops, a vintage clothing store, a large supermarket, post office, bank, pubs, an art gallery, etc.

Anyways, you will get an idea of our village from the pics below.

We have four quilt shops in the area, and near our town is a national park with a castle called Glenveigh National Park and also Ard Forest is nearby. This is horse country, and we have stables behind the hotel, and lots of people hire horses to ride on the beach. Oh, there is also a golf course near Killahoey Beach. We have a Workshop right outside our village that houses another craft shop, coffee shop and a Famine Exhibit, and besides our wee art gallery on our main street , we have a larger gallery right outside our village, where local artists display their work. Of course there are countless fields of sheep, horses, and cows, two lakes in our area. My favorite one is New Lake, where we often go. There are sand dunes by the lake which you can climb to get to Tramore Beach. It is a long hike, but it is spectacular.There is lots to see and do, so if you ever come to Ireland, make sure to visit our area. A good time to visit is in 2012, as we are having a huge International Quilt Festival in Ireland. I will give you details about it when it is closer to the time.
Well, Bridgette, here is the tour that I promised. Hope everyone enjoyed a glimpse of Dunfanaghy and our area. Enjoy your weekend!

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It's Time for the AccuQuilt GO Giveaway

The Giveaway is now closed!
Yeah, it's time for the GO giveaway!!!!
You all know how much I've enjoyed my GO , and now I have a GO to give away. Carolyn Robinson from AccuQuilt has just given me the green light to have my GO Giveaway. I am so excited!! I will be picking the winner by random drawing using a random generator. The lucky winner will receive the GO fabric cutting system and 3 dies of his or her choice. Please make sure that I have a way to contact you, or I will not be able to give you the prize and will have to draw again for a new winner.

You have many ways to receive entries. You will have to do a seperate reply for each entry, and please do so at this post only.

Here is how you can get several entries:


1. For one entry, post a comment telling me you want to be entered in the giveaway...easy peasy!
2. For a second entry, tell me you are a follower of my blog.
3. For a third entry, go to the AccuQuilt website, and tell me which 3 dies you would want to win...That is the hard part...trying to decide.LOL
4. For your fourth entry, post about this giveaway, and give me the link to the post.

I was so happy to get the go ahead from AccuQuilt, and I am thrilled that someone is going to win a GO, as I do know how exciting that can be!


Let the fun begin!This giveaway will end at 2 PM my time on November 5, 2010.





Good luck to all and thanks again to AccuQuilt!

AccuQuilt Go Tutorial 2: Circle Quilt

I just ordered some fabric for my pillowcases. I wasn't happy with what I had. I will finish the pillowcases next week, as I ordered this really neat blue Bella solid fabric for the 9 inch strip of the pillowcase and some thirties fabric for the 2 inch strip.Don't you just love them? The solid bright yellow, I will use for the main part of the pillow, and then hand sew the Dresdens onto the two pillowcases. Kimberly already shipped the fabric, so it should arrive by Wednesday...I will have them done by next weekend.

Now, for the tutorial on the circle quilt. Here is how I did it all. I decided while I was waiting for the pillowcase fabric to start on my circle quilt, and boy am I having fun with it all!

Here is a pic of the circle die and the 6x12 cutting mat. I used the Sharpie again to outline the dies around the blades.

To prepare the fabric for the cut, I used a layer cake, and then ironed to it a square of Heat and Bond Double Fusible that I cut out for each 4 that I did at a time. With the fusible ironed behind each block, I decided to do only four at a time...but boy was it easy!

For the fun, I drew a circle onto freezer paper and cut out one circle...Don't ask me how long that took and it was nerve wracking to get the circle just cut out right. The GO made it so easy.

This way, I was cranking four at a time,it was going chick chock and voila, four beautiful cut circles from gorgeous 1930's fabrics.

Now, here is a tip to get the circle pefectly on the layer cake.

As you can see by the photo, I folded the layer cake into quarters, and then did that also for the circle and it was easy to see where the centre was and to line up the circle perfectly before I ironed it to the block.

Joe took a pic of some of the blocks, so you can get an idea how the quilt will look...I have tons more cut out, but you can see how I will be alternating the blocks in the quilt.

I just have to finish cutting them out today, and then I will be using a blanket stitch on the machine around each circle...I think I will have to get some more fusible from our local shop, as I don't think I will have enough, even though I got three metres. After all the blanket stitching is done, I will be able to sew the blocks together and then sew the rows together.

It will be a very bright, happy quilt...just what our bedroom needs, and Joe put in a special request for me to use the bright yellow, so he got just what he asked for.

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial.....Joe will be taking some pics this week of our village and area, and I will post a few, as someone requested that I do that ....a new blogger friend of mine named Bridgette.

Some Nice Surprises

I got a package in the mail from the International Friendship Quilters Group . That is the group where I am a guardian angel for anyone who becomes ill or is having problems. I love being a guardian angel. Anyways, I got a set of handmade coasters, a lovely card, chocolate which Joe enjoyed, and a fancy spoon from Australia. How nice is that! Someone was my guardian angel this time. As to my legs, I am wearing support bandages on both legs. They seem to be very prone to injury, so I am very careful. I have to build up the muscle around my knees, and that will take time.

Next, I found out from Wendy from Why Knot Quilt that I won a really cute pincushion in the Fall to Fall Quilters Giveaway.

I do thank you Wendy, and you did not know it, but I am big time into pincushions.
Then, I found out that I won another prize from the Fall to Fall Quilters Giveaway...Thearica from Pigtales and Quilts emailed me that I won her prize which was a shelf sitter. Now, I know what it is, but it will be a surprise as to what it looks like. Thanks so much!

Finally, the mailman brought me the package that was sent from Kelly from IHAN. Her customer service is second to none, and I was thrilled to receive both the circle die and The Quilting with the GO book. I had a good read today, and I saw a Dutch Quilt I will make one day....The book has some wonderful ideas and patterns in it.

That was my Monday...filled with some nice surprises. We also had a very stormy, cool day here in Dunfanaghy, so all the surprises brought me a bit of sunshine.

GO 1930's With The Dresden Die and the AccuQuilt Go

First AccuQuilt GO Tutorial:

Here is the first tutorial that I promised.
I am really enjoying the AccuQuilt Go, even more so when I saw how quickly I made my Dresdens with the GO.

Also, I can see how I could really combine the dies to come up with some really creative projects.

Here is the Dresden die...First of all you need to take a Sharpie permanent marker pen and outline the shapes. It's easy, just follow the blades, and voila you will have it done in lickety split. That helps so much in the placement of the fabrics on the die.

I did tell you about the free pattern that comes with each die. Here is the pattern that came with the Dresden Die....so neat! You can use the Dresden die for a quilt, for a lovely table runner, for pillows, and as for myself, I will be using it to make two pillowcases.

I used lovely 1930's fabrics for the two Dresdens that I made. The pillow cases will match the circle quilt that I will also make.

First of all, to cut out the Dresdens, I positioned the fabrics on the long 10"x24" die. If you notice, the fabrics are overlapping each other, but that doesn't matter. Put the fabric on the die using the lengthwise grain. That will assure a perfect cut. After placing the fabric on the dies, I put the 10"X24" cutting board on top, and then I positioned the die, fabric and mat firmly against the roller, and at a slight angle, and turned the handle...It easily brought everything through the roller..as you can see here:
Then voila...lots of lovely Dresdens all cut perfectly and all exact.

Now, how did I make the Dresdens? It's easy once you know how to do it. First, you need to fold the Dresden in half wrong sides together and press it down, Then, you sew across the wider part of the Dresden...The first photo shows the folded Dresden and right where the pin is placed is where you would sew a quarter inch seam. Then , you turn it inside out and press it down well, and you have a nice point as you can see in the second pic. In the third pic, you can see how nice the Dresden plate looks when I turned it around.

Then you sew the blades wrong sides together and make sure that the points meet and sew a perfect quarter inch seam, and keep on doing that till you have all the Dresden blades forming a perfect circle. I used 21 blades to form a really beautiful circle.


Isn't it pretty with all the 1930's fabrics?

Then , you only have one thing to do, and that is to make the circle for the centre. I took a piece of cardstock and put it on the circle die, and cut it with the GO to make a perfect template, and then cut out two circles with the die.

I put the circle template on the beautiful Moda fat quarter and cut it out just a quarter of an inch past the circle edge. I then took Reynolds Freezer paper and ironed it onto the back of the circle. I then did needleturn applique, using fabric glue, removed the freezer paper, and put it on the Dresden circle with a bit of fabric glue around the edge. I love to hand sew,so I hand sewed it using Bottomline thread, matching the pretty yellow of the circle. As you can see, they turned out so pretty...two very gorgeous Dresden circles.

I will be handsewing the Dresdens onto the pillowcases. Kimberly from the Fat Quarter Shop has shipped the beautiful Michael Miller yellow fabric that I need for the circle quilt and the two pillowcases....7 yards total. It will be arriving this week, so I will make the pillowcases , hand sew the Dresdens on them, and show you the final results.

Monday or Tuesday, I am expecting the circle dies and the Quilting with the GO book I ordered from Kelly at IHAN. I have 63 circles to cut out, and that will be part of the second tutorial I do for you, in addition to showing you how I do the circle quilt. Look forward to that one.

Hope you enjoyed my first tutorial! Making the Dresdens was so much easier with the AccuQuilt Go. I can't imagine cutting out each of those blades using a Dresden template...the thought of that gives me chills. This was easy peasy!!!!!

Check out all the free patterns on the AccuQuilt site for the GO here.