Today I’m starting to share some of the First Note Quilt tops that have been sent to us. I hope you enjoy them. Keep checking back as it will take me more than one blog post to get through them all!!!!
Appearing tonight is Debbie Y, Brenda S, Debra F, Mary M, Denise E, Cheryl H, Christy C, Catherine R, Jane A, Denise N, Connie D, Maria Clauda P, Victoria C, Michelle C, Megan F, Lauren R, Helen W, and Valerie R. Take a bow everyone!!!
Fall Cleaning.
For the month of November I will be joining The Geeky Bobbin in UFOvember. (don’t ask me how to pronounce it though) Starting November 1st I will be joining a long list of fellow bloggers in finishing up some unfinished projects! The first week is probably the easiest and the hardest. INVENTORY!!!! I already did a quick assessment of what is on my UFO shelf and it was overwhelming. I hope to get at least one of those boxes emptied by the end of the month.
You know the nearer your destination the more you’re just basting away.
Always a little earworm for y’all!
Now that First Notes quilt tops are popping up all over the place, I want to share how I baste my quilts. I was dying crawling all over the floor, and I don’t remember where I saw this, but I grabbed onto the idea and use it all the time.
You will need a good size table, something you don’t mind pin scratches on, and clamps. I found these at Lowe’s for a couple bucks each. They’re great for my small hands, and have an easy release latch.
Find the center of your backing fabric and center it on your table, right side down. Place one clamp in the middle of the long edge of the table, then head to the opposite side of the table. Smooth your fabric towards you, do not pull tight, and clamp it to the table. Repeat this around the table, using as many clamps as necessary. For my 5 foot table I use three clamps on each long side.
Find the center of your batting and lay it gently over the backing and clamps. If your batting has a scrim, make sure the scrim side is facing the backing.
And now lay your quilt top on top of the batting, right side up. Check the sides draping around the table and make sure there is batting and backing extending past your quilt top. Starting in the center, gently smooth the quilt outwards and then start pinning. I have this great handy dandy Kwik Klip tool that helps me pin and unpin when needed. More on that later in the post.
I like to pin so that when I lay my hand on the quilt it touches about 4 pins.
Now you have pinned the entire top that is on the table, but there is more quilt hanging down the sides!! What to do? No worries, I’ve got you covered.
Unclamp all the clamps on the table. Just reach under the top and batting and unclamp it. Then you want to slide the entire quilt sandwich to one side of the table. Leave just a small pinned area at the edge of the table and the rest of the table will be unpinned area. Starting at the center of the pinned side, clamp the whole sandwich to the table.
Gently fold back the unpinned top and batting, leaving the backing on the table. Be careful the weight of the top and batting doesn’t pull on the backing. Smooth the backing and clamp it to the table.
Fold the batting back over the table and smooth it out, then repeat with the quilt top. You can clamp the sides if need be.
Starting at the center continue pinning the quilt top. When you have finished this section, rotate and repeat until the entire quilt top is pin basted.
This has saved my knees and back from complete torture.
Another little hint I will give you. If you are planning on an intense quilting design on the quilt and the pins are going to be a problem, purchase some wash away thread. Take the pin basted quilt sandwich to your machine and quilt a large meander using the wash away thread. Now you can remove all the pins and add your quilting designs. The wash away basting thread does just that, it washes away. (do NOT under any circumstance lick the end of the thread so you can thread the needle, LOL). I use Superior Vanish thread.
I want to share with you the Handy Dandy tool I mentioned earlier. It is called Kwik Klip. I LOVE this tool and will not baste without it.
I created a little video to show you how it works.
What do you think? Pretty cool, huh? Even cooler is that Paula Jean Creations is sending one U.S. Quilt Concert Goer a Kwik Klip!!
Giveaway Rules
In order to enter for the prize drawing you must do the following
1-post a photo of your finished First Notes flimsy (a flimsy is just the top, no quilting required) on Instagram using a public Instagram account by 11:59 Eastern on Thursday, October 28th, 2021 (if you don’t want to make your primary account public, you can always create a second, public account to use for this quilt along and other projects like this) IF YOU HAVE ALREADY POSTED YOUR FIRST NOTES QUILT TOP, YOU ARE ALL SET HERE.
3- include the hashtags #quiltconcert2021 and #quiltconcertquilttop
4- Write in your post the country you live in. <——do not forget this!!!
Winners will be selected by random drawing and will be contacted via Instagram direct message by Saturday, October 30th, 2021. The winner must claim their prize by responding to the message with their mailing address by 11:59pm on Monday, November 1st 2021. If the prize is not claimed at that time, we will select an alternate winner.
(This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Instagram.)
GRAND PRIZES!!
We have been able to put together THREE GRAND PRIZES for the Quilt Concert 2021 series.
Grand Prize #1 open to all U.S. residents includes (1) curated 5 piece fat quarter bundle from Dabble and Stitch, (1) Carolyn Friedlander fat quarter bundle from Sew to Speak, (1) $50 gift card to Red Rooster Quilts and (1) queen size wool batting from Hobbs Batting
Grand Prize #2 open to all U.S. and Canadian residents included (1) Oliso mini maker iron from Oliso and (1) set of 3 Sewfine Thread Gloss from Sewfine.
Grand prize #3 open Worldwide includes (1) 6 month subscription to Make Modern Magazine from Make Modern Magazine.
ALL CONCERT GOERS WHO ENTER will also receive a small prize from Cassandra and I.
To enter you must fill out this google form. It will ask for your name, address and a photo of your quilt top, along with permission for us to use that photo in various marketing. You do not have to have an Instagram to enter.
I was sewing a new First Notes quilt along with all of you these past four months, and here it is! I used a Tula Pink fabric that I ice dyed as my main print and added some bold solids for the rest. I think it looks pretty amazing.
Okay, now for some important news. We still have GIVEAWAYS to talk about, plus the GRAND PRIZES!!! So please read through all this carefully.
Are you missing a block? Head to The Not So Dramatic Life and Shoppe Lovingly Lissa to purchase it for $2. We will be removing all the patterns from our shops on October 31st, so do no delay if you need one!
This week’s Sponsors and weekly Giveaway
We have two sponsors again this week. The incomparable Kid Giddy will send one pdf download of her Sew Plush Planner pattern to a Concert Goer and The Electric Quilt Company is sending a copy of Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns to a U.S. Resident Concert Goer.
The Encyclopedia was our resource in finding blocks for the Quilt Concert. I have two editions of this book and they’re usually within hand’s reach whenever I am designing, and sometimes just for flipping through.
Now, if you have already posted your First Notes Flimsy on Instagram you are already entered! Just make sure you follow @kidgiddy and @theelectricquiltcomany AND that you included what country you live in.
Everyone else here are the rules…
Giveaway Rules
In order to enter for the prize drawing you must do the following
1-post a photo of your finished First Notes flimsy (a flimsy is just the top, no quilting required) on Instagram using a public Instagram account by 11:59 Eastern on Thursday, October 21th, 2021 (if you don’t want to make your primary account public, you can always create a second, public account to use for this quilt along and other projects like this)
3- include the hashtags #quiltconcert2021 and #quiltconcertquilttop
4- Write in your post the country you live in. <——do not forget this!!!
Winners will be selected by random drawing and will be contacted via Instagram direct message by Saturday, October 23th, 2021. The winner must claim their prize by responding to the message with their mailing address by 11:59pm on Monday, October 25th, 2021. If the prize is not claimed at that time, we will select an alternate winner.
(This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Instagram.)
GRAND PRIZES!!
We have been able to put together THREE GRAND PRIZES for the Quilt Concert 2021 series.
Grand Prize #1 open to all U.S. residents includes (1) curated 5 piece fat quarter bundle from Dabble and Stitch, (1) Carolyn Friedlander fat quarter bundle from Sew to Speak, (1) $50 gift card to Red Rooster Quilts and (1) queen size wool batting from Hobbs Batting
Grand Prize #2 open to all U.S. and Canadian residents included (1) Oliso mini maker iron from Oliso and (1) set of 3 Sewfine Thread Gloss from Sewfine.
Grand prize #3 open Worldwide includes (1) 6 month subscription to Make Modern Magazine from Make Modern Magazine.
ALL CONCERT GOERS WHO ENTER will also receive a small prize from Cassandra and I.
To enter you must fill out this google form. It will ask for your name, address and a photo of your quilt top, along with permission for us to use that photo in various marketing. You do not have to have an Instagram to enter.
If you have made more than 1 quilt top, please feel free to fill out a separate entry for each one.
Entries must be received by midnight (Eastern Time) October 28.
Winners will be chosen and notified around the first week of November.
Prize from Cassandra and I will be mailed out mid to late November.
PJ Jam Zoom Party!
The party ends on Friday, October 22nd. Stop in and sew/chat with us! We love meeting our Concert Goers. The zoom link is my weekly newsletter, sign up below!
This is it! Let’s put First Notes together. It really is a simple last step with this pattern, in fact I’ve noticed a few Concert Goers already have theirs together without the pattern.
Don’t give up if you are missing blocks tho! We have the next few weeks set aside for finishing up any blocks as well as the flimsy (AKA a quilt top). And all the blocks are available in our Etsy Shops, The Not So Dramatic Life and Shoppe Lovingly Lissa.
Also new to my shop this week is the Hollyhock Potholder Pattern!!! If you are brand new to the paper piecing technique, this is the pattern for you!!! I have step by step and detailed diagrams to help you create your first Paper Pieced block. And don’t be frightened by the odd angles for binding, because I have included step by step and detailed diagrams for that as well! The Hollyhock pattern is on sale for the month of October, so grab it soon!
I love all the prints I used in this version and I can’t wait to put together the ice dye version I’ve been making along with all the rest of the Concert Goers since June.
Sponsor and Giveaway Prize
Have you ever been to Paducah, Kentucky? The American Quilter’s Society has a very large, very popular Quilt Show there every spring. It’s also the home of the National Quilt Museum. Last, but not least, you can lose yourself at the largest quilt shop in America, Hancock’s of Paducah.
We are thrilled this week to introduce Hancock’s of Paducah as a Quilt Concert Sponsor. One extremely lucky Concert Goer will receive a $100 giftcard from Hancock’s. You’ll be all set to get your fabric for next year’s Quilt Concert Series!!!
Giveaway Rules
This week’s prize is open to residents of the United States.
In order to enter for the prize drawing you must do the following
1-post a photo of your finished First Notes flimsy (a flimsy is just the top, no quilting required) on Instagram using a public Instagram account by 11:59 Eastern on Thursday, October 14th, 2021 (if you don’t want to make your primary account public, you can always create a second, public account to use for this quilt along and other projects like this)
3- include the hashtags #quiltconcert2021 and #quiltconcertquilttop
4- Write in your post the country you live in. <——do not forget this!!!
Winners will be selected by random drawing and will be contacted via Instagram direct message by Saturday, October 9th, 2021. The winner must claim their prize by responding to the message with their mailing address by 11:59pm on Monday, October 11th, 2021. If the prize is not claimed at that time, we will select an alternate winner.
(This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Instagram.)
Pottery Class update
My completed face pot came home today!! It’s hard to see all the nuances of the glaze in a photo, but it’s still pretty cool.
Today we did some slab work. My first is this “pint glass tumbler” that currently looks more like a vase. If I ever drink my ice tea out of it remains to be seen. Then I made the base of this pumpkin that looks fabulous! I have one more slab that I laid over a rectangle dish to give it shape, but it wasn’t dry enough for me to take off and photo before class was over.
It’s funny that I anticipated the tumbler being easy and the pumpkin being a disaster and it’s looking like its going to turn out the opposite!
I am falling in love with making pottery! I just finished my third class today where we painted on the glaze. Once again I only had time to work on 2 pieces, luckily it was 2 different ones than last week. I am especially in love with my “Creepy Face” pot. It really freaks my daughter out already! The glaze looks like a plain red here, but after firing it will be a mix of very glossy colors. The name of the color is Tiger Eyes, if that helps you envision it. It does make me think of a tiger eye stone.
So, how long until I can convince my family to let me turn the garage into a pottery studio? I’ve already taken over the basement for my quilting studio, but I cannot mix pottery dust with all my fabrics!
Pinwheel Patchwork Cushion Cover
Okay, so this week’s block name may not invoke a song, but isn’t it poetic with all that alliteration?
Oh my goodness, though! I cannot believe we have made it to October and the final block of First Notes! It’s not the end of the Quilt Concert, don’t worry!!! We still have a few weeks to catch up and put together the quilt top, but our Concert is winding down.
This week’s Sponsor is Hobbs Batting. Hobbs has been a wonderful supporter of the Quilt Concert and honestly, it’s the best batting around. I use Hobbs all the time now. The prize this week is a queen cotton batting with scrim. I haven’t tried it on a large quilt yet, but it is on my list.
My favorite batting is Tuscany Wool and Cotton Supreme. I also have a fondness for the Thermore in some projects. One of these days I’ll do a whole post on different batts, I do have a pile of sample batts from Hobbs that I’ve quilted up to see the differences and help me decide which one to use in a quilt. If you ever are at a quilt show and Hobbs Batting is there, head to that table and buy the sample pack.
Giveaway Rules
In order to enter for the prize drawing you must do the following
1-post a photo of your Pinwheel Patchwork Cushion cover block on Instagram using a public Instagram account by 11:59 Eastern on Thursday, October 7th, 2021 (if you don’t want to make your primary account public, you can always create a second, public account to use for this quilt along and other projects like this)
3- include the hashtags #quiltconcert2021 and #quiltconcertblock16
4- Write in your post the country you live in. <——do not forget this!!!
Winners will be selected by random drawing and will be contacted via Instagram direct message by Saturday, October 9th, 2021. The winner must claim their prize by responding to the message with their mailing address by 11:59pm on Monday, October 11th, 2021. If the prize is not claimed at that time, we will select an alternate winner.
(This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Instagram.)
