Whimsy Lane (EZ Dresden Ruler Tutorial)

Good Morning!

I've been promising a 'Tutorial' on how to use the EZ Dresden Ruler for those of you who have seen me at the shows, so here goes!

(The following quilt was pieced and quilted by Marla McDermott of Kanab Utah)

  

Cut strips 2 1/2" wide (or use a Jelly Roll)

Using your EZ Dresden Ruler place the ruler straight on the fabric from 0 - 2 1/2". 

Using your rotary cutter slice your first set of blades.

Turn the ruler the exact opposite way and slice your next set of blades.

Continue to the end of fabric.

 

Fold blades right side together and sew across the widest portion with a 1/4" seam. 

Chain stitch several through the machine. Clip apart.

Turn inside out and using a blade turner poke out your point as best as you can being careful not to poke a hole through it.

Press. Your blades will look like this when they are done.  

To make the full flowers alternate your lights and darks paying attention to values and scales.

Start by lining up two blades right sides together and chain piece through machine sewing them together with a 1/4" seam. Clip apart. Continue joining 20 blades together. Join the circle by sewing the first and last blade together.

 

Center of Flower:

After cutting out your template for either the full flower, quarter or half, place it on top of some  iron on stabilizer which has the sticky side face down on top of the right side of the fabric for center piece.  Cut out circle (or half circle, quarter circle):

 

Sew a scant 1/4" seam around circle. Clip edges. Put a small slit in the stabilizer at back to turn the unit inside out. Make edges as smooth as possible. I run my blade turner all around the seam edge of the circle.  Do not press until it is on top of flower and ready to be applied to quilt top. Otherwise you will have it sticking to your ironing board.

 

Top stitchthe  flower petals on following your quarter inch foot on your machine. Find a decorative stitch to topstitch on the flower center. (It is hard to make a perfect circle. If you use a straight stitch to sew on the flower center all of your imperfections will show. I use the #19 stitch on my Bernina 125)

For Quarter Fan Blade Unit covers you can either finger press the cover 1/8" down, or use a circle like above and cut it into quarters OR: in the picture to the right, you can take the plastic template you made (as long as it is the NO MELT mylar) and adjust it where it is about 1/8" down from the top and use the plastic as a guide and iron it over it.

I like to use some spray starch at the top to help it stay folded down before stitching it on. When making the Quarter Fan Blade units, you stitch the fan blade cover on as close as you can to the edge.

I hope this helps!!

We have a winner! Congratulations Jesse #28

Ladies and Gentleman....
I am so very humbled by all of your kind comments and generosity of spirit in this my first Give Away. I couldn't believe when I looked at the Live Feed that people from countries all over the world have stopped by. And of course all of you great US and A people too!! Thank you so much!!

The Random Generator pulled up #28 (Jesse)  CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

And happy sewing, quilting and crafting to all you awesome creative people out there!
Quilting Hugs,
John'aLee

Sew Mama Sew Give Away!! Don't miss out on this!!!!

My Quilting Friends! It's time to get on the band wagon for my first   BLOG GIVE AWAY!!!
I am so excited to see how all of this works. As I meander through Blog Land I agree with others that 'Quilters' are definitely the most generous people on the planet.

So here is what I am contributing for the give away.
Yummy Christmas Quilting Fabric to get you started early on some homemade Christmas gifts and some darling Christmas embellishments to go with it. As well as a miniature book on Quilting and a miniature display of fabrics on bolts that I picked up at a "Country Store" in Yuma during  their annual Quilt Show.

All you have to do is leave a comment and become a follower! Please leave me a way  to get a hold of you, and you will be entered into the drawing.
Here is a close-up of the fabrics:

Make sure to head over to Sew Mama Sew to see all of the/bloggers that are participating in this wonderful give away: http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=7239

Quilting Hugs,

John'aLee

P.S. I ship internationally

Home Machine Quilting Show

There's nothing like a shot of inspiration in the arm that one gets from a Quilt Show! We were happy to be invited to vend at the Home Machine Quilting Show in Sandy Utah last weekend. It was so great to see all of you...our faithful customers and to catch up a little bit.

I thought I'd share some of the quilts that were hanging in the show. Both batteries went dead on my cameras as I was taking pictures the last day, and because I was working I couldn't go and buy some new ones. So there were several other beautiful quilts I wish I could have taken pictures of.

This is a close up of the following quilt. Magnificent work! It is amazing how much embellishing adds to a quilt. This was so stunning!

The picture of the label I took on this one didn't come out. So if whoever made this wants me to add their name and story about this quilt please email me.
I loved this color variation of this pattern. It is a super popular pattern out there on the quilt circuit. It's fun to see what all you creative ladies have done with it.

This pattern is by my good friend Verna Mosquera. If you have never checked out her website you must: vintagespool.com

That's all for now folks. I'm headed to St George to spend some time with my kiddos and grandkids!

Inspiration - The Design Process

So how do designers take their inspiration to final product?

I'm sure everyone's process is a little bit

different...but I will share mine with you.

First I build around a theme.

The quilt in process that I have been sharing with you titled.......Meet Me Under The Mistletoe

started with of course....Christmas. 

I then fine tuned it to a few things:

Mistletoe, ribbons and hearts.

From there I started sketching.

I sketch, I play with fabric, I throw that sketch out, I start again....

over and over again.

Until finally I come up with something I am happy with.

This doesn't mean there still won't be changes.

I do not work with EQ6. If only I knew how!!

Mine all happens organically.

And then, I commission fabric after fabric, sometimes
 making several templates with several different colors.

I adjust

I readjust...

and I readjust.

Until I finally have a finished product.

A quilt that has been pieced, appliqued, quilted and
 bound.

All the while I am writing the instructions to share with
 you my beloved customers.

I then completely make another quilt from the instructions I have made, correcting any errors.

I then send it to my darling "Marla" who is my angel!! No
other word for her!

You all need a "Marla" in your life.

She then makes the quilt and catches any of my errors
 and sends them to me.

If there is time I too like to run a class on it, to make sure
 everyone knows what I am saying.

Then the final quilt goes to the photographer.

And those pictures and instructions to the printer.

From beginning of thought process to final result will
 take hundreds of hours.

This my dear friends is why us designers are such 
 sticklers about copyright.

It costs us not only hundreds of hours, but hundreds o
 dollars to get a pattern off the ground right.

And it is how most of us make our living.

So a big huge yummy "Thank you" to all of you who do
respect the copyright issue!

We love you!!

(P.S. The picture above is of the pieces I am working on
 for the final border of.

"Meet Me Under the Mistletoe"

They may be too big...

They will probably have to be minimized...

we will see...

I know all of you at the shows whom I have shown this 

"quilt in progress"

are dying to get your hands on the pattern...

I'm working on it girls....really I am!

Quilting Hugs to all of you quilters out there busily
 working away today!

Johna'Lee

Inspiration

Just a short little post today. Inspiration. It is what keeps us designers of all kinds going. I remember asking a designer whom I have the utter most respect for once, "Where do you get your inspiration?"  Her answer. "John'aLee it is very simple. It is everywhere. In nature, in books, in coloring books, children's books, blogs, shows. Just start looking deeper into `what you see`."  And those words changed my 'designing life'!
Above is some new embroidery thread I picked up just for the 'color' inspiration. The embroidery book has some stitches I haven't used before, so I figured I would combine the two and come up with some new designs.

So here's a page from my sketchbook where I play around with designs. This is a rough starting copy of the new BOM I am working on out of Fig Tree's two lines, Millhouse Inn and Fresh Cotton.
This is the beginning. Hundreds of hours later, a finished quilt.
And it all starts from.......a little bit of......Inspiration!

And here it is on top of the fabrics I'm working with.








So today....look somewhere new for some of that dynamic little thing we call....Inspiration!

Check outside...go see what is in bloom...

Wander into Blog Land and see what others are working on...

Go to Moda's website and check out all of their upcoming new fabric lines...

Go pull some fabrics out of your own stash that you usually wouldn't put together..and make a block out of them.

Trade some fabrics with a good friend and create a challenge...

The best place.....Borders or Barnes....Ahhhh..my favorite get away  to get inspired.

And have....an inspirational day!!

Quilting hugs to all of you,

John'aLee

Great Goodies found on my travels....

One great thing about traveling around the country is all of the awesome people we meet! The other thing....is the great range of things to purchase! These are a few of my finds in April:

                                                                     This is my find at Hancocks of Paducah. A lot of you probably get their catalog which is amazing. It was different to see that they are basically just in a big old warehouse!
These are the new fabrics from Fig Tree called Fresh Cotton. Love them. I am working them into one of my new Block of the Month designs.
                                                                     
  An adorable pattern for a pretty easy sweater (so they say) that I am dying to make. They had the actual sweater made up in a wine color at the Pueblo show. Gorgeous!!

I was thrilled to find this book. It is an older book, but is exactly what I need for a design I have been working on for over  a year. A Block of the Month quilt with Christmas houses. This book tells how to construct houses from fabric! Nothing like perfect timing!

I am learning to stitch! This was the book I found at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah. They are actually stitches to use for hand quilting, but most of them can and will be used for hand embroidery in some of my new designs. This was another perfect find with perfect timing!

And this is my first finished project out of the book that taught me so many stitches!





Jennifer Chiaverini's new book! I can't wait to dive into this one. I love her books.

My first ever 'wool' purchase, from my dear vendor friends Attic Heirlooms. If you've never checked out their booth....please do. She is an amazing designer. What some of you may not realize, is that on the road, us vendors are like a family meeting up each week, in different cities all over the USA. Everyone helps each other, and we all can commiserate about "Life on the Road"...

And one last amazing book. I think it is so special that authors out there are willing to teach the rest of us, how to make their incredible designs. The quilts in here look impossible, but she breaks down the process. She tells how to do roses....which is the thing I am most interested in. Someday....I will have my own 'Rose Design" quilt out there for you all. A special "Thank You" to all you generous authors out there!

One last picture to make you smile...this is baby Heston who was born in December. For all of you who got to know our daughter Ashley out there on the road....this is her new little one. She also wants you all to know that she misses you!! (But she has made it clear...she sure doesn't miss giving demos!!)

It's after 11 pm...we have to get up at 3 a.m.

to be on the road to the next show

so I will sign off.

I stayed up last night until after midnight

photographing a tutorial for you all

on the Dresden Plate

so hopefully I will get that

posted tomorrow.

Until then....

Happy Quilting!