The end of a good effort

On February 10, I had to sadly close the St. Louis Star Inn. I gave it a good try for 3 years and although I had groups that returned every year, I just could not get new groups to come. I tried everything to get people to come. Even offered a free weekend to quilt guild presidents if they could organize 4 other people to come with them. Was it the economy? Was it my location? Was it the size of my retreat center? There are a lot of unanswered questions. The one thing I did know was, that the groups who were lucky enough to come, had a wonderful time, felt a home, enjoyed the comradeship of being with their quilting friends, ate fantastic food, and got to work on their projects in a relaxing and serene environment. (At least that is what everyone told me who came here.) It was a matter of economics. The monthly insurance payment was more than the number of groups who came, so it became financially difficult for me to maintain.

The last group I had was a fantastic group of 6 women who came from Rolla, Missouri. The had been here last year in February when the winter weather was very mild. This year there was snow on the ground and more snow came before they left. Two of the women were only planning on staying two nights, but since it snowed on Sunday, (and because they were having such a good time) they decided to spend the extra night with the other three ladies who were staying. My husband and I really enjoyed their company and he even said that he was glad that THEY were the last group. (Not glad that they were the LAST group! Well... maybe.)

Here we all are at the dinner table for the final brunch (minus one who left early).

This is a quilt that Cindy was working on during the weekend. I can't believe she made all of those nine-patches and one inch squares! It sure is a beautiful quilt.

It's okay, don't be shy, you can show your face!

I don't know who was sadder. The fact that I wouldn't enjoy the company of other quilters in my home anymore or that the groups who did come were not able to come anymore. Either way it was a sad day for all of us.

I have to give my husband Mike credit. I don't know of too many husbands who would open up their homes to a group of ladies who would be staying overnight, eating at his dinner table and somewhat disrupting his daily routine. He is very routine oriented (must have been that Marine Corps training)! Plus, he had the responsibility for cleaning out our eco toilet since we had no running water in the quilt studio! I know this was not a pleasant task for him, but he did it because he knew running the retreat center was something that I enjoyed doing. There were plenty of times that he wanted to say that he didn't want to run it anymore, but he was willing to give up his privacy so that I could give it a good try. He does have to admit, for as much as he might have complained, he did enjoy entertaining the women!

One group of ladies from Farmington, Missouri, who had been to my retreat center 4 times, presented Mike with a wonderful patriotic quilt for his military service the last time they were here. It was something that he never expected and told them that they needed to give it to someone more deserving. Even though he is an extravert and loves being the center of attention, he is very modest about his accomplishments and does not like to be recognized for what he has done. I had to pull him aside to tell him that they made it for HIM and that he needed to accept it graciously which he did.

I feel like I have an empty house, like when my children all moved on and I had empty nest syndrome. (Though I think I was sadder to see the quilters go than my own children!) I have all of these beds with quilts on them that will go uninhabited. I don't know what I will do with all the beds. Maybe keep them just in case I want to try it again? Do bed turning demos?

For all of those wonderful ladies who did spend the night, I have to say thank you for great memories. I made some new quilting friends and will always think of them as family because that is the way they were treated when they were here. I will still be running my shop and hopefully have day retreats/workshops so that people will still come and visit. The Rolla ladies did schedule a workshop for my Yin and Yang quilt on July 28, 2014. Contact me if you are interested in enrolling in the class an to get more information.

Lastly, I want to mention that my schedule is updated on my website, listing all of the workshops and trips that I will be taking. If you are in the same area as I will be, please stop by to see me, especially in Paducah, KY, Columbus, OH, and Springfield, IL where there will be large quilt shows and lots of quilts to inspire you.
 
Time to move on. Life is always changing! As always, do what you love and love what you do. Toby

Binding finishing tips

Quilt guilds are great places to make friends, see beautiful quilts in show and tell, and learn new things. I belong to a local quilt guild and at the last meeting there was a round robin of different quilt techniques and patterns. I was asked to demonstrate how to finish the ends of the binding. I demonstrated two ways; one very easy and one that looks hard but is actually easier than you think.

I started with the easier method (of course). 

Method one
Step one: Trim the edge of the binding strip at 45º.

Step 2: Press edge under about 1/2" and trim overlapping tip.

Step 3: Fold binding strip in half, wrong sides together. Match raw edges of binding and quilt. Sew from beginning edge of binding strip. It is important to secure the whole edge.

Step 4: Complete sewing the binding around the quilt edge, mitering corners, and stop sewing about 3" from beginning edge. Trim the ending edge of the binding straight, to about 1/4" or closer to the diagonal open edge. Place end of the binding in the pocket created by the beginning fold. Finish sewing through, sewing over the previous stitching. Fold binding to the back and hand sew. I place a pin to secure the edges where the fabric overlaps, before sewing to the back, to help hold the edges together. If you want, you can hand sew the opening closed with a slip stitch after sewing it to the back of the quilt.

Method two

Step 1: Starting with an 8” tail in the beginning, start sewing 8" from edge. Sew around the quilt, mitering corners, and stop sewing about 16” from the beginning stitches.

Step 2. Pin inside edges to quilt. Fold the right side of the strip down towards the right, so that the fold touches the edge of the beginning strip. Crease edge.

Step 3. Draw a line along the crease on the back side of strip, then cut the width of the strip from the drawn line. Ex: for a 2” wide binding strip, cut 2” from line; 2-1/4” strip, cut 2-1/4” from line.

Step 4. Draw a diagonal line from corner to corner in the square. (From the right side of the drawn line to the top left corner.)

Step 5. Lay left side of binding flat, right side up and flip the right side under and wrong side up. Placing right sides together, line up corners with the edge of the left strip. Pin and sew along drawn line.
This is similar to sewing the ends of the binding strips together when connecting all of the strips.

Step 6. Trim seam to 1/4’” and press open.

Step 7. Fold binding wrong sides together, pin to quilt. Sew down from end stitches to the beginning stitches. Fold binding to back, miter corners and hand sew down.

My own preference for the size of binding is 2" wide. This creates a perfect 1/4" finished binding with 1/4" seam. If you prefer a 2-1/4" binding, then sew with a 3/8" seam for a 3/8" finished binding.

I hope this helps the next time you put your binding on!

For the free pattern of the day check out my Hoffman Asuka pattern.
I am anxiously awaiting the fabrics so I can sell the kits!

Well, time to get back to writing another pattern. Not my favorite activity (I'd rather be designing or quilting) but something that has to be done! As always, do what you love and love what you do.

New template and free pattern

As I sit looking out the sunroom window at the snow still on the ground, I think about what I like about winter. Many of you think I am probably crazy, but I do like the cold weather for a couple of reasons. One is, I love wearing my sweaters! They are so soft and snuggley and feel wonderful against my skin. I can't say that about my summer clothing. As I get older my skin has become more sensitive and I feel very uncomfortable when something irritates or itches my skin. I love the new microfibers and bought some new sheets with them which feel so nice when I get into bed.

The other thing I like about winter is I do like to cook and the cold weather gives me lots of reasons to make fresh soups and breads. My husband also likes to cook his chili when it gets cold and over the years of making it, has finally come up with a recipe that I like. His first attempt had no tomatoes or tomato sauce in it. Actually I'm not sure what it had in it! Not wanting him to give up cooking, I had to eat it. I have learned that when he cooks something new, I don't tell him I don't like it when I eat it, but wait until the next day to make some simple suggestions. Men's egos are so fragile! He doesn't hesitate to tell me when he doesn't like something I made and I don't stop cooking if he does. 

I made a wonderful cream of potato soup last week that had no cream or milk in it. I changed it a little from the original recipe and it came out really good. I found it on Pinterest and posted it in one of my pins. Here is the original recipe. 

Cream of Potato soup

I changed it by eliminating the beans, increasing the potatoes and cauliflower and used 6 cups of chicken stock and no water. I didn't blend the whole soup, just about 1/3 of it. I like a soup with a little substance. It has a great flavor and really hits the spot on these cold days.

Back to quilting. The free web pattern today is the Eden Quilt pattern. 

It features a beautiful fabric collection called Eden by Chong a Hwang with Timeless Treasures. I have the fabrics on my website along with an Eden quilt kit that includes everything to make the top and binding. It is currently on sale at 20% off the original price.

I really like using two blocks to create an interesting effect on a quilt. This quilt looks like the blocks are set on point, but they are not. The Diamond in a Square block blends in with the LeMoyne Star block which gives that effect. The fabrics are stunning!

 

 

I have also found out that I will be teaching at the NQA show (National Quilting Association) in Columbus, Ohio in April. I will let you know which classes and when the schedule will be posted on their website. 

Well, back to writing my pattern. 'Til next time. As always, do what you love and love what you do. Toby

Happy New Year and new year's resolutions

Here's wishing everyone a Happy 2014. It certainly has come in with a bang where I live! We got 9-12 inches of snow and the temperature today is -4 degrees! I think the last time we had weather like this was in 1985 when we moved back to St. Louis. We were moving from North Carolina and the movers did not anticipate the cold weather. They had on light jackets and the chill factor that day was -10 (or more, I can't remember exactly how much, I just know that it was cold!) It sure looks pretty, but I'm glad I don't have to go out in it. Luckily my husband, Mike likes the cold weather and doesn't mind going out to feed our outside kitties that live in the garage!

I usually do not make new year's resolutions, but this year I decided that I need to to help make my business and website grow. I started by writing a newsletter and I sent out my first one a couple days ago. If you would like to receive it you can sign up on my Gateway Quilts Facebook page by clicking on the envelope. I will not be bombarding you with a lot of postings. Maybe a couple a month and when I have a special sale or merchandise come in. My second resolution is to post on my blog more often. (More than once a year!) I have to make a concerted effort to sit down and write at least once a week on things I am working on and any news that I would like to share.

I thought I would start this year with a compilation of all of the projects that I did last year. One of my first projects that I worked on was a quilt I designed for RJR fabrics. The fabric collection was called Dawn. It was a very nice collection of different types of textures and I wanted to make a quilt that showed off the textures. I designed this quilt pattern that I call Shattered because it reminded me of a shattered glass. These are two of the colorways. It was different from most of my quilt designs which were based on traditional quilt blocks. This certainly wasn't traditional!

It was designed with one simple block that was strip pieced, over sized and cut down to size. To create the design I had to move the fabrics around on the block and create three different versions of it to get the effect I wanted.

 I was asked, more recently, to make the quilt with another fabric collection from Kaufmann fabrics and it looks like this.

I have found that it looks neat in a variety of colors and textures, even Christmas. I would love to hear your opinions of it and what colorways you would like to see it in. You can find the pattern here: Shattered pattern.

I do have some wonderful news to share. I have been asked to teach at the AQS Show in Paducah, Kentucky this April. It is a dream come true for me! It is my favorite quilt show that I do not miss going to every year and I have been wanting to teach there ever since I started teaching nationally. I will be teaching my North Star, Yin and Yang, and Millefiori classes and lecturing on Using Mirrors to Create Unique and One-of-a-Kind quilts. If you want to know what those classes are, information is on my website about each one with images of the projects. I hope that some of you will be able to come to Paducah and take one of my classes or attend my lecture. As soon as the schedule is posted on AQS's website, I will post it.

Well, time to work on writing a pattern for one of my new designs (not my favorite activity, I'd rather be quilting). I hope this will be a good year for all of you. And as always, love what you do and do what you love. Toby

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume #6

Well now that the campaign is over and we can finally get on with our lives, it is time to focus just on quilting! (Yea...no more political ads!)

I am lucky enough to be included in the current 100 Blocks blog tour for the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 6. My block is #586 on page 60 and is called Ladder Up. It came about while I was working on a new collection of fabrics for RJR called Civil War Ladies by Pat Nickols. I wanted to work with a block that would incorporate as many of the fabrics from the collection as I could and wanted it to be traditional to the period, so I chose a Jacob's Ladder block that looked like this.

I usually like to change a block somewhat to make it different and to be able to create secondary blocks when they are put together so I added a few more smaller triangles in the corners and I came 
up with this. Even though the block has a lot of pieces it is not a complicated block, but when you use it in a quilt it creates a whole different look. 


Here you can see when you put the blocks together it creates a spinning star in between the ladders plus a pinwheel block in the intersection of the ladders. I was very happy with this design and went on to use a small stripe in the triangle border to frame the quilt. The pattern is called Jacob's Ladder and is available on my website. (Along with many of the fabrics used in the quilt on sale!)                                                            

 If you are visiting my blog and did not know about the Quiltmaker's blog tour you can go to Quiltmaker and see other blocks in the series and visit other blogs. Each one of us are giving away the current issue of 100 Blocks Volume 6 and you also have a chance on the Quiltmaker's website to win a wonderful mug with many of the blocks on them.

To be eligible to win a free magazine you need to leave a comment at the end of my blog. Be sure to leave some kind of contact information. I have drawn names in the past and people have lost out on their winnings because they did not leave an email address with the message. You email addresses are not shared with anyone and if you do not want other people to see it then leave me a message on my contact me page on my website Gateway Quilts & Stuff.

Please let me know what you think of my block and if you get a chance to visit my website look at some of my newest kits including Sweet Dreams featured in Quilt magazine. It is made with a wonderful Robyn Pandolph RJR collection called True Vintage.

Thank you for visiting me and good luck. Remember, always do what you love and love what you do.

New Winner and more

I'm sorry to say that I was unable to reach Ruth and she did not respond back so I had to choose another winner.

Vwlady is the new winner! She did leave an email address (that's how you win) so I have emailed her the exciting news! As soon as she gets back to me, I will choose 2 more winners. One for the magazine and the other for the fat quarter bundle. 

I'd like you to take a look at my two newest designs that have just come out. The first one was just published in McCall's Quick Quilts. It uses a beautiful fall collection by P&B Textiles called Abundance and the quilt is called Summer's Inn.

McCalls has wonderful step-by-step directions to create this block that only looks hard. (If it was hard it wouldn't be in their Quick Quilts issue!) The quilt is 82" x 99" and has a 12" block. A kit is available for the top including the binding on my website Gateway Quilts & Stuff.

The other quilt is in The Quilter magazine and uses the same beautiful collection, except this one includes a panel that is cut up for the plain blocks. It is also an easy quilt with fast log cabin blocks.

This one is called Sunflower Fields. This quilt is 68" x 88" and has a 10" block. This is also available as a kit on my website.

I have been very busy this year. I have quite a few new free patterns coming out and as soon as they are posted on the companies websites I will share them with you. Please come back to see what I am working on. I will also share photos of some of the work that my students have done in the workshops that I teach.

Remember, always do what you love and love what you do. Toby

Winner of Best Christmas Quilts plus more!

I was stunned at all of the wonderful comments about my Winter Stars table runner (222 to be exact)! All of you are so generous in your comments that I have decided to draw two more names! One will win a copy of the magazine and the other a group of fat quarters of the fabric in the quilt.

But first I have to announce the winner of yesterday's drawing......(drum roll).....Ruth.. who said, "Winter Stars is a beautiful pattern and beautiful fabric. It is really lovely". Now Ruth left me no way of contacting her so hopefully she will check today's posting to see if she is a winner. If she does not contact me then I will draw another name. After Ruth or the next winner has come forward I will draw two more names. Ladies (and gentlemen if there are some), if you want to put your name in any drawing on a blog, you need to let the blogger know some way of reaching you. I know it is difficult to put your email out there but these blogs are only open to members and bloggers don't share information with anyone else. If you don't leave information you won't be able to claim your wonderful prize.

Okay off of my soapbox. I want to share the current project I am working on for a magazine. It uses a beautiful blue and white collection by Timeless Treasures called Charlotte. They make the most yummy fabrics and I love to design with them!

It is a work in progress. I am sewing on the sash and cornerstones and hope to quilt it tomorrow or Friday. I seem to be in my rectangle and square mode. I have a lady named Dolores who helps me with some of my projects and the last one I gave her was rectangles and squares. She was thrilled to get something without triangles! She told me it was the easiest quilt of mine that she had pieced. It will be a free web pattern on Timeless Treasures website so stay tuned and I will post it when it is ready.

Well, got to go finish sewing. Remember, always do what you love and love what you do. Toby