Photos finally

Well, I have finally gotten the photos added to the computer and I can add them to the site. I will need to go back and read to see what instructions I need to give to help you with your quilt. Hopefully after this you will be able to let your friends know about this blog and they can come here and use the lessons already posted. I am in the process of teaching this class right now at the store I work for. I teach it about once a quarter and it isn't free. The students sometimes decide to add to it and make it larger instead of a wall hanging. That is great, I love it that they want to do that. I suggest adding a second border either the same size as the one you have already or larger. If you decide you want to make it larger before you add the first border you can use three borders and make the first one a small two inch or less border. The second border would then be a three or four inch border with the final border being five or six inch border. There are other options that could also include adding a center block different from the one we have learned in this class.
Now I will add some photo's and post some directions that go along with them.

Today we are looking at the final touches of our quilt I have added a border that is one inch
larger than the first border. I mitered the corners on both borders. I have shown you a picture of the quilt as it
looked before I started quilting it. I have also shown a couple of examples of my quilting. One is a correctly quilted star and the other is a incorrectly quilted square.
I will be giving directions on mitering and machine quilting next time.
Tennye

Been Sick

Well, I am still not adding to the lessons and I am truly sorry for those who are working on the quilt. I have the pictures on the computer and I will be adding them in a short time, but I have been sick and my boss has been out of town and one of the girls I work with has also been sick. Therefore I have not had time or felt like doing any thing extra for the blog this week. I do apologize and I will get back to it very soon. I have to work tomorrow, even though I hate to work on Sundays. The boss will be back in a few days and my co-worker has said she would like to start to come back in at least 3 or 4 hours this week. We will do what ever we can to help her get back to work and not have a relapse.
I will look forward to getting back to you all next week. I completed a block of the month today and I made a cute quilted Kleenex holder today. I have made lots of coffee sleeves that I have no idea where I will sell them. I am having fun making them though. Talk to all of you soon.
Tennye

If you are new Welcome

If you are new to the site I would like to welcome you. I am currently working on a learning to quilt project and it was not working out as I had planned so I have had to do some regrouping. I will be adding a new posting in the next few days with pictures. I am going out of town Friday and won't be back until early Mon. morning so it is possible that these things won't happen until next week.
I have much to do between now and leaving town. I am also taking my sleeve project to a craft fair on next Wed. so I will need to have it completed before then. Lots to do so I had better get off and get busy. I will get back as soon as I can.
Tennye ;)

Well, if anyone has tried to follow my lessons I am truly sorry. I just quit on the quilt and on you. I did last week get back to the quilt and forgot to make any pictures of the progress. I am at the quilting stage and will make some pictures tomorrow and post them. In the mean time I will try to do some writing and get you up to date as well. The quilt did not turn out as large as I wanted it to so I had to figure out what I wanted to do to make it larger. Then I had to go off and find the fabric to do it with. I am excited with the results so I hope you will like them too. I promise to be back on soon.
Tennye

Lesson Five

Welcome back to lesson five I have photos to share with you this time around. In the last lesson we discussed cutting strips two inches wide out of our fat quarters. This is what mine looked like after I got them cut and using a quarter inch seam allowance sewed them together.
The next step to take is to measure the size of the three strips and see how wide they are. Usually they will be six inches wide.
The next step will be to cut the squares out of your strip sets. Cut them the same size as they measure across. This will make them square and will make the beginnings of your quilt. I sometimes stack them in a staggered manner so they will stay smooth and not be crocked when you cut them. It is hard to see in the photo,
but I did add these photos anyway.
The next step will be to figure out what pattern you want out of
your squares. I usually do the traditional rail fence, however, you
can do what you want to it is your quilt. I look forward to seeing you next time to add the boarders. See the options I have tried below.
Tennye ;)

Learn to Quilt-Lesson Four (finally)

Well, if you had been signing on to learn to quilt and I lost you because I have gotten so terribly busy that I didn't get on for weeks. I would like to ask you to forgive me. I am back!!!
I am not going to ask you to purchase a large amount of fabric for this first outing. You will need about three fat quarters for this first quilt. This will not be a large quilt. If you are wondering what a fat quarter is, it is a quarter of a yard of fabric cut from the half yard and then it is only one side of the 45 inches. So it is 18x22 instead of 9x45. Make sure each fabric is a different color or a very high contrast.

Please press your fabrics and make sure they are all crisp and ready to work with. Lay them out with the long sides horizontal. _________> Using your rotary cutter and ruler cut each one into as many 2 inch strips as you can cut it into. Now sew one of each color into strips of three. Make sure all sets of three strips are in the same order. I will try to add photos in the next post and I hope you will have yours completed but then. I hope not to be so long in coming back. Good luck and please show me what you are doing.
Tennye

Lesson Three

Well, sorry for the delay and for there not being any full fabric requirements. I have not made a plan. I have had some personal problems that have taken my mind too far off what I needed to be doing. Then we had a family reunion over the weekend and last weekend for Father's day we did a Birthday party for my new son-in-law in the town they live in. It has made my life crazy and the classes out of sink with what I meant for them to be. I will make an attempt to work harder with the writing so I will be ahead of us.
So lets talk more about fabrics and colors. What kind of color selections do you make and do you have trouble with color? Always feel free to ask for help most fabric ans quilt stores have someone who is willing to help you pick the fabrics. Once you have a basic color scheme you want to start with they will be able to help you find either matching or contrasting fabrics to help you make your chosen color come out and shine.
Lets say you really like a floral fabric with pink roses on a cream back ground with lovely green stems and leaves. You take it to the fabric store and you find a nice soft pink , two soft shades of green, and a lovely cream, with a bright dark pink. Now you have six fabrics for your wonderful quilt and you can now start to cut the design knowing the focus fabric which is the floral fabric will be highlighted by the lovely fabrics you have chosen for your quilt. Think outside your box and look at colors you don't normally use or like. Pick colors that you think are ugly sometimes and be surprised when they turn out to be the one color that makes your quilt beautiful.
I am working harder for you I promise. Have a good week and we will look forward to lesson four. I am also working on the Block of the month so watch for that as well.
Tennye

Learn to Quilt-Lesson Two

Welcome to Lesson Two
Today we learn more about using the rotary cutter and mat and next week we will start with the fabric requirements and cutting squares for the quilt.
When cutting with a rotary cutter you always must use a mat or you will damage the table you are cutting on. There is a discussion about cutting mats and which one is the best. I have had an Olfa mat for about 15 years and it is still in good shape. The mat has a one inch grid on it and I use a ruler that also has a grid. When cutting fabric I line it up on the mat grid and then I line up the ruler using both the gird and the ruler grid too before I cut. This will help assure the cut is straight. When you are cutting multiple layers of fabric check often that you have it lined up to make sure you don't get curved lines. When you are cutting half inch lines always make sure to use the ruler lines to line it up top and bottom of the fabric. I will try to have some photos next week with the cutting requirements for the pattern. We will leave cutting triangles and other shapes until we are using them for a block. So see you again next Mon. with the Fabric requirements.
Have a good week.
Tennye

How is your day going?

I am working hard to finish my first quilt for the commission of the man's clothes. I start the next one Mon. out of his dockers. This one is his blue jeans. The next two or three will be made from his shirts. Then I will be working on the t-shirts and sweat shirts and they will be made into small quilts that can be used as baby quilts or just child size quilts. What are you working on? I would love to know.
Tennye

Learn to Quilt-Lesson One

Hello to all who may be reading my blog. I have not been consistent with my writings and I know that. I have taken that into consideration when I decided to offer to you a free class on "How to Quilt". I have not decided how many classes this will consist of, however, I shall begin at the beginning . I would not want the beginner to find themselves confused or distressed in the learning process. I personally am a kinetic learner, who is better off by being shown what to do and then doing it. However others learn visually and others learn by hearing. I do not have the capability of teaching by voice. However I am able to use photos as well as my words and if at all possible drawings. So for any interested this will be class or lesson 1.

Lesson One
Quilting is the process of putting together three layers . Generally it is also a process of cutting larger pieces of fabric into small pieces, then sewing them back together. To use as one of the layers in the quilt. Quilts have traditionally been used for warmth, in a utilitarian manner. They have also been used as a decoration. Over the centuries many have used them for other reasons as well. In the Bible times they were used as clothing to protect in war. Almost as a shield.
Currently we use quilts for many things including the traditional ones of warmth and decoration. Many artists use fabric as their personal method of creating. So history and descriptions aside now we will move on to the process of learning what and how to quilt.
Quilt fabric is generally 100% cotton however there are other fabric choices for different times.
For our purposes until we get to future lessons we will recommend only using Cotton. Many discussions have centered around how to handle your fabric. The general thought is you should wash all fabric prior to using it. I suggest you wash it in smaller pieces so that it is easier to handle. Iron after washing and if you want you may use starch to give it a crispness. This will make it easier to cut.
Tools- Well, the tools of the trade as you say are those that you use when making quilts, but also the same as the ones used for sewing in general. Scissors, thread, needles, thimbles, pins, and then you move on to other newer tools. Rotary cutter and mat, rulers, and template material, along with many new things we will learn about along the way.
That is all we are going to do today. Next lesson will be next Mon. and we will start with a project you may use to learn to quilt.
Thank you for joining me and I look forward to seeing you next time.
Tennye

What would you like me to do next???

Well, I have been thinking about starting a block of the month club or something like that. I was wondering what you all would think about that if you would like to join me in this process. We could make a quilt a year that would be easy for those who have too little time and too much desire. I would be happy to post the blocks monthly and then show the quilt at the end of the year. I would even do different setting so you can decide which one you like best. If you think you would like to join this I will have the first block and the first optional setting of the quilt posted about the 15Th of June. Pictures will be available to help with construction. My first class will be on line at Quilting Weekly in a week or two, so look for it. The cost is not out of most peoples limits. Then use the forum to talk to the other ladies on line. Thanks for reading.
Tennye

Posting From Virginia

Hello from all the lovely state of Virgina. I am visiting my family here in the North East and we went to the beach yesterday. Today we have done very little, but have enjoyed visiting. Their dogs are sick, and have Kennel cough. The vet saw them today and gave them medication, so they are sleeping alot today. They are sweet dogs and I hate to see them sick.
Before I left to come here I completed a new blouse and a new dress. It was kind of nice to make some clothes for a change, and they fit. I will most likely be making more after this, but not if it gets in the way of making quilts. I brought the quilts I made for my granddauhters to show them. I have not put them together yet so it is only the tops. I wish I had pictures of both of them, but I only have one.
I still have not turned in my class for the trapunto quilt. I need to make more pictures and add them before I can send it off. I am down to the last day of the class that needs pictures, and I have had to almost re-make the entire quilt. It is sad that I didn't realize I needed some of the pictures that I have needed when I made the original quilt. I made a short video too the other day and now I can't figure out how to add it to the class it goes in. I am looking forward to getting it in, it makes me feel bad to have to hold off.
As soon as I get the girls quilts finished I need to start quilting the other tops I have that are ready to quilt. I had a lady call me the other day and ask me about quilting for her. Sadly the Internet and the people in our area want to get quilting for nothing. So when I told her I would charge her .01 cents a sq. foot she decided that was just too much to pay. It up sets me for people to want excellence and then not be willing to pay for it. Guess I need to go and not get upset. Have a wonderful evening. Talk to you all soon.

New Day, Old Project

Working on old projects today. I am attempting to get my Little Gracie II frame ready to use for quilting. I have put it off for months, because I was just not sure how to put the leader fabric on. I am sure when the process is complete I will kick myself for waiting so long to have done it. I have three quilts that are ready to be quilted and two that I would like to give to my granddaughters when I go see them at the end of the month. I will quilt the one that is not for them first so if I mess up I will not mess up theirs. I would post the pictures today of the tops, but I have not taken them yet.
Spring has sprung here in Texas and the days have been beautiful so being in doors has been hard. The flowers are blooming and the trees are that wonderful shade of green that is only seen in the spring.
I am also working on the commission quilts I told you about before. I have the blue jean one ready to start putting back together almost. I had an appointment to meet with her to pick out fabric and she did not show up. I am hoping this is not going to turn out to be like the last commission I took making quilts from clothing. At least this time I will be able to get them out of my house if it does, since they do not have and pictures on them.
Well, I am looking forward to a very prosperous week and I hope you are too. I should be turning in the final draft of my class this week on Trapunto. I am hoping that turns out well, because if it does then I will turn in another class on using old clothing for quilts right away. Talk to all of you again soon.
Tennye

Living Learning

Well, as I may have said before I am writing a class on a quilt that I recently designed. I turned it in to the web teacher who is over me, she gave me her critique yesterday. Apparently I use and too often, I also don't give enough detail in my description's. There is also some spelling issues that I forgot to use spell check on. Needless to say I will be doing some re writing and having someone do some editing for me. I felt good about my ability to write, and now I have to re-evaluate myself.
Trapunto is such an exciting new method to learn when you have never done it and I need to make it interesting and fun for my students. I am distracted, I will write later.
T

Good Day for Writing

I hope you are having a good day today. I took my machine with me to a class yesterday and wouldn't you know the needle came out while I was embroidering and it fell into the bobbin case broke and shot back up through the feed dogs and logged there. I left it for the tech. to look at and take out. I was not in the mood to break it. LOL He had a back log of nine machines and wouldn't you know it he is sick so he never got to my machine at all. So today is a good day to write. I am working on two classes and a book I really need to spend more time writing any way but I would rather quilt or sew most of the time.
What is your favorite part of the process is a question I get all the time, and I am sure you do to if you do this where other people are. I have to say all of it is, that is why I have such a hard time getting things finished. My mind is so far ahead of me making new things and creating new ideas that I have a hard time keeping up. That is why I finally decided that I had to learn to machine quilt. I just couldn't find enough time to do it all by hand. Then after I got started I realized no one out there is writing any books for the home machine quilter. They are all writing to the long arm quilters. There are thousands of us who don't choose to invest that much money in the machine but still want to make the quilts to completion. That is where I come in. If you agree with me please leave me a comment. I would love to hear from you. Have a quilty day and I hope to talk to you soon.
Tennye

What I should be doing!!!

Well, I should be working on writing my next class and then getting things ready for the one after that. I did do some work today on making sure I know what I am doing on the computer. It is good to know that I am able to do what I am doing. I got to see several of my cousins today since it is the Easter holiday today. I had one of them show me how to add my pictures to my work. I figured out that I knew how to, I just didn't realize that I did. I have written many classes, and it has been an experience to learn how to teach others what you know. Every one does not learn the same way so you can't teach them all the same. I would never have thought I would be the one teaching. What is your dream? Are you reaching for it? I truly hope you are.

New Quilt Project

Well, I have been commissioned to make several quilts from the clothing of a man who died. His wife wants to use them to surprise her children with gifts of memory quilts made of Dad's clothes. I have started the process by sorting the clothes I have in my possession . I will start with the easy ones. I will make the jeans quilts that will be made of the jeans and dockers. I hope to make two of those, but it will depend on how many pairs she gives me. Then I will make a t-shirt quilt with the t-shirts. I will use the button up shirts to make a pieced quilt. I have already looked at several patterns for that in hopes of showing them to her next time I see her. This is an exciting project and hopefully will bring healing for her, by allowing her to start to move on. Well, on with the day and the progress that needs to be made. Hope you will join me again tomorrow or the next time i write.

First Blog Day

Welcome to my new blog. I have been quilting for about 21 years or so. I am also an artist, scrap booker, and a crafter. I have also been sewing as long as I can remember. I took my first formal class in 7th grade. I took as many classes in school as they offered. My grandmother taught me to crochet some time around the same time I was in 7th grade. I have no idea how many afghans I made before I learned that quilting was lots of fun. I have always wanted to learn to quilt so I found a class to take that I could afford. I signed up for the class and took it. I had taken the initiative to learn to piece on my own so it was the actual hand quilting that I needed to learn. Since then I have made so many quilt tops that I finally started to give them away because it took so long to hand quilt them I decided I would never finish them all. That is when I decided I needed to learn to machine quilt. I started to buy books and read everything I could find on the subject. Now I am finishing my own quilts and being able to give them away as complete quilts. More next time. Thanks for stopping by and getting to know me and learn about my quilts.
Tennye