lovinglylissa

Isn’t all sewing “me time?”

Well, yes and no.  I do absolutely love to be in my room and at my machine.   Lately a lot of what I am creating are must do’s.  Things I am working on in order to obtain a goal I have set for myself in the quilting industry.   Sewing for fun and nothing else doesn’t happen too often. 

I don’t feel like I am missing out.  Until a night like last Friday happens. 

I took a class a local quilt shop to make a book clutch.  It was so much fun and I loved what I came home with.

I am not a clutch person, so I added straps to mine and made a cross body.  

On Saturday I just couldn’t stop myself.  I had to make more of this.  So I made a wallet to match the mini Tudor bag I made a few months back.

This fits some cards and cash perfectly and also can slide right into my back pocket.  Great for grab and go times and times I don’t want to carry a bag!

Saturday evening my daughter comes to me and tells me there is a huge warehouse book clearance going on Sunday.  Would I take her and a friend?  YES!

The book sale was $2 or less per book.  And some of these book covers are so gorgeous they don’t need fabric covers.  I plan on doing some more modifications,  adding card pockets, inside zippers, different closures, etc.  These will make great gifts and now is a great time to make them.  It requires E6000 glue and if you have ever used it you know how bad it smells.  Perfect outdoor activity right now.

Lovingly, 

Lissa

Have you ever wondered how a guild quilt comes together?  I have and I belong to two guilds!  One guild handed out background fabric and instructions on types of fabric to use and block directions.  We all returned the blocks and one member completed the quilt top, quilting, and binding all by herself.

Now the other guild likes to get together and have some quilting fun!  I’m referring to the Central Ohio Modern Quilt Guild.  We handed out fabric and block directions to any member who asked, but once collected we planned a sew-in day to put them all together.

Of course there were some hiccups, but nothing these multi talented, extremely intelligent ladies couldn’t figure out!

First, let’s get all the squares laid out.

That doesn’t look complete, let’s rearrange and take another look.

We have a bit of math to figure out (thank goodness there were more abled thinkers, ’cause my maths skills were sorely lacking)

Angie is thinking I should put the camera down, get over there and cut the fabric.  And DO NOT mis-cut, because we may not have enough as it is!

Cam and Betsy are so hard at work they don’t see the picture perfect day out that window.

What’s missing?

Cassandra knows what it is.  The last 4.5 inch square that we just managed to cut out of the remaining background fabric!!

Everyone is smiling because it is coming together so nicely, or because they all know there is a camera on them!

Can you tell what it is yet?  It’s upside down in the above picture.  Here is the picture of the completed quilt top.

The State of Ohio!

Oh, it was such a fun day.  I so enjoy spending time with members of this guild.  I truly love this quilt top too.  Do you?  Well, then stay tuned.  It went home with the awesome Cassandra Beaver to be quilted and after it is bound it will be heading to the Ohio State Fair so you can see it in person.  After it’s attendance there, we will be selling raffle tickets to WIN THIS QUILT!!  I will keep you posted on when the tickets go on sale.

Lovingly,

Lissa

Back in April I challenged myself to create a quilt without purchasing anything NEW.  Everything had to be scraps or upcycled materials.

I started with a Queen size flat sheet that I cut into fourths.  I used two pieces as the front and back of my quilt (the other two pieces are being saved for another project)

I dove into my pile of scraps and stash fabrics to create dresden flowers of varying sizes.

My favorite re-use was taking small pieces of batting and stitching them together for use in the quilt.  It was easier than I thought and came out much better than I expected.

Start by overlaying two pieces of batting, carefully using a rotary cutter cut a wavy line through both layers.  But the new edges against each other and sew with a zig zag stitch.

Easy Peasy!  And you can not tell once it is in the quilt at all.

I also tried to create a Trapunto effect on this quilt.  I quilted each Dresden block onto it’s own piece of batting before stitching it to the quilt. I then used my applique scissors to cut the batting about 1/4 inch smaller than the Dresden block.

The Dresdens were then zig zag stitched onto the top of the quilt. (I forgot to take pictures…eek!)

In order to make the Dresdens pop I quilted right up against them and then echo quilted 1/4 inch away a few times in white thread and then once more with a thread that matched the Dresden.  They didn’t pop as I had hoped, but the quilting still looks really nice.

The rest of the quilt received a meander type quilting.  I did some loops inside the flower print of the top and also stitched around the outline of some of the flowers.  It came out really cute.

The pictures were taken after I had washed and dried the quilt, that is why it all wrinkly looking already.  (My favorite part of quilting is when it comes out of the dryer and is all wrinkly, to me that is the moment the quilt really becomes a QUILT)

Here is the finished blanket.  It is baby sized and labelled for donation through a guild I belong to.

I challenge YOU to use up what you already have and make something beautiful.

Let me know what you come up with.

Lovingly,

Lissa

It’s taken a while for me to get to this point, but my Fandango quilt is complete!  It is quilted, bound, and in the dryer as I type.

The finish size is 68″ square and I quilted it mainly with a walking foot through the 6 inch opening of my machine.

It was not an easy task at all.

I started with the center medallion and chose a design.  The compass points were stitched in the ditch, the small green fans had straight lines radiating out, and thelarger pieced fans had a lotus leaf type of motif inside.

After I finished the center medallion I repeated the same quilting motifs on all the medallions on the quilt and on the quarter medallions.  Then I went to focus on the larger green areas.  For these I echo quilted the arcs of the fans.

Quilting this part was MUCH easier than the medallions.  You can see the quilting better on the back of the quilt.

For the borders I just meandered my way through.

Here it is, all finished!!!!

When it came to threads, I used 50 weights of varying colors.  I used one color for the bobbin and tried my best to match the section on top I was working on.

I am so thrilled and in love with this quilt.  It was a huge adventure for me in terms of quilting, I really took some risks that I normally don’t.  My next big move is to get a machine with a larger throat space.  Each medallion took me an hour at the minimum and a large part of the time was folding and cramming the quilt through.

Here ends my Tula Tuesdays!  Thank you all who joined me on this journey, it has been fun!!!!

Lovingly,

Lissa

Congratulations, Laura!  She is the winner of the Blossom Blog Hop’s Stitching Stars Quilt.

Lovingly,

Lissa

Welcome, Friends, to the Stitching Stars Blossom Blog Hop.

Blossom. This word can mean so many things to everyone. With spring starting, we think buds and blooms. I think about the way the word describes how my venture into the quilting industry is going. With a lot of care and tending it is starting to bud and bloom.

Since the Sew Pro convention in the fall, I have slowly but surely made progress towards my dream of becoming a pattern designer.   There is so much more than just writing a pattern.  There is social media and self promotion, there is technical knowledge to learn, and there is a business to create!  So on top of the patterns I am working on, I have gained over 300 instagram followers, worked on this blog, and have incorporated and become Lovingly Lissa, ltd.

I spent time prepping for this blog hop reaching out to the other wonderful women who are participating and asked them to send me some quilt blocks. Andi Stanfield of True Blue Quilts had posted a LeMoyne star block on the Stitching Stars Facebook page and I used that as inspiration for a group quilt.

Very soon, packages started to arrive for me. I love receiving mail!!!  The blocks were made (in no particular order) by Andi Stanfield of True Blue Quilts, Becca Fenstermaker of Pretty Piney, Sherry Shish of Powered by Quilting, Pam Cobb of The Stitch TV Show, Paula Mamuscia of Creations by Paula, and Nancy Scott of Masterpiece Quilting.

Together  (with two blocks I made and forgot to photograph) they came to form this beautiful quilt.

When the top was complete I sent it off to Lisa Peterson of Lisa and Lorelai for quilting and finishing.

This quilt is now the Grand Prize for the Blog Hop.  You can enter via the Raffle Copter link below.

Stitching Stars Quilt Giveaway

Please visit all the partipants in our Blog Hop and help us all Blossom.

Monday, April 3, 2017
Lissa LaGreca: Lovingly Lissa – YOU ARE HERE!
Carmen Ross: See Carmen Sew

Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Sherry Shish: Powered by Quilting
Becca Fenstermaker: Pretty Piney

Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Lisa Peterson: Lisa and Lorelai
Pam Cobb: The Stitch TV Show
Deanna Wall: Stitches Quilting

Thursday, April 6, 2017
Vanessa Behymer: Vintage Barngirl
Paula Mamuscia: Creations by Paula

Friday, April 7, 2017
Andi Stanfield: True Blue Quilts
Nancy Scott: Masterpiece Quilting
Anne Beier: Hudson Valley Quilt

Lovingly,

Lissa

This was a strange February.  The weather went from snow to spring and back again.  The warm weather had me thinking of Spring and picnics.

Picnics can’t happen without picnic blankets, right?  Here is mine, I’m all ready to go!

This pattern is very quick and easy to put together.  I used duck canvas as a backing to give some weight to it.

It would also look beautiful as a baby play quilt.

I’m happy to offer the pattern FREE.  Click below for the pdf and enjoy

Strawberry Picnic

Lovingly,

Lissa

First, let me apologize for not posting in 2 months!!  I can’t believe I’ve been so lax.  However, the laziness hasn’t extended to the sewing room.  I’ve been quite busy there!

It is Bravo time!  I posted last year about the books written by my son’s fourth grade class that I bound for them and was sold at the children’s art auction.  This year I decided to help them make a quilt.

First, I had them vote on a theme. I offered them houses, silhoettes of themselves, lego heads, monsters, and emoji.  The overwhelming majority (22 out of 24) voted emoji.  I was so glad.  I think it was the easiest pattern of all the options I gave them.  I sent in a template of a circle inside a square with instructions that they can go outside the circle, but not outside the square as they design 2 or 3 options for me.  I also told them “NO POOP EMOJI!”  Because, you know of course one of them asked.

The emoji came flooding in.  They were all recreated as true to the original as I could by machine applique and hand embroidery.  The results were fantastic.

When I had finished all 24 and sewn them on to their squares I brought them to the class.  I would hold up the design and then the quilt square and they responded so enthusiastically.  I was surprised they were so excited.  They applauded and cheered for the donut.

The plan was to bring a sewing machine to school and have them each sew a piece of the quilt.  On the day we were to start I received a call from the school nurse that my son had fallen in gym class and had a huge bump on his head.  He and I wound up at urgent care for the rest of the day, and then he was home with a concussion for the rest of the week.  He’s back to himself now, but since I had to turn the quilt in by February 14th, it threw the plan to have the kids sew it out the window.

Here it is in all its glory!

I was so unsure of my fabric choice for the sashing, but it looks great.  I’m also extremely pleased with my rainbow binding.  And the piece de resistance?  The label the kids made.  They each signed a piece a fabric that matched the back of their emoji and then I sewed them together in the same order as the emoji were.

And don’t you just love the backing fabric?  Isn’t it just perfect?

The auction is online this year and goes live in about a week.  I can’t wait to see how much it goes for.  Honestly, I’m really curious just to see what they put the starting bid at.

Coming up soon on the blog…

I have been busy.  I’ve been 3D quilting, which means I have a lot of bags and pouches to show off to you.  I also have a pillow pattern to put up and a free picnic blanket tutorial. There’s also a blog hop I will be participating in during April, and I am part of a row by row pattern  called “In My Neighborhood” hosted by QuilterChic.  I will be the designer for August.

AND

I’ve been quilting my Tula Pink FANDANGO quilt, so there will be one more Tula Tuesday with the finished piece soon!!!

It’s all just so exciting!

Lovingly,

Lissa

I heard that Nancy Zieman was having a Christmas Stocking Challenge and I just had to enter!  It was finally the reason I needed to purchase a pattern I had been eyeing.

These gorgeous snowflakes by Joanne Kerton of CanuckQuilter.com.  I first learned of this pattern when I met Joanne at SewPro.  I have a heard time recognizing faces as I get to know people and Joanne had made a tote bag using one of her snowflakes on it.  I knew when I saw that tote bag that it was Joanne.

Each pattern makes 2 or 3 snowflakes and comes with a coloring sheet so you can design your snowflake.  This is really helpful when paper piecing.  I used the coloring sheet first, then I used a colored pencil that matched my fabric to color in the paper piecing pattern.

I drew out a stocking pattern and cut three stockings from it, two for the lining and one for the backing.  I used the pattern to place the finished snowflake on and sewed more fabric around the edges until the stocking pattern was covered.

I laid the stocking pattern on top of my snowflake fabric and cut the front stocking out.

Remember the coloring sheet that comes with the pattern?  I cut that out and used it to draw my quilting designs on the stocking.

I used a matching red thread, so the quilting is a bit hard to see.

I then assembled the stocking using a basic DIY lined stocking like this one.  There are many tutorials on the net, you can find one that works for you if you don’t like that one.

Here is the red stocking hung up.

And here is the picture of the three I finished in time to submit to Nancy’s Challenge

There are five hanging there now.  It’s rather hard to get a decent picture of them, there’s always one turning the wrong way!

Tomorrow is the announcement of the winners of the challenge.  There looks to be about 103 entries and just under 20 prizes, so I think I have a decent chance.

Here’s hoping!!!

Lovingly,

Lissa

Where do I start?

I have a been a Stay at Home Mom since my eldest was 5 months old.  She’s almost 14 now.  My youngest is in first grade.  When he started kindergarten friends would ask me what my plans are now.  I replied that I just wanted to spend time in my sewing room.  “Will you make that into a career?” they asked.  “No,” I replied, “I have no idea how to do any of that, I just want to sew and create.”

Over the course of the year I grew.  I stopped being a ‘lone’ quilter and joined guilds and sew-ins.  Do you know that quilters are the nicest people ever?  Seriously, I was so welcomed everywhere I went.  It is a brilliant community, a place where I feel comfortable to create and share.  I started thinking about pattern making.  I do follow patterns here and there, but many times I just grab fabric and start sewing, do a little doodling on graph paper, some math and BAM, I have a quilt.   I’ve never written any of it out, just made what I wanted and moved on to the next thought in my head.  So I thought to myself, why not put the patterns to paper and create a book?  I gave myself five years to accomplish this goal.

One night at a guild meeting, members were discussing some retreats they have been on or were planning to go to and someone mentioned Sew Pro.  I asked them what that is.

In a nutshell, Sew Pro is a convention for members of the sewing community to learn how to create a business doing what they love.  I researched it, discussed it with my husband, and mulled it over for some time.

Next thing I knew, I was flying to Chicago for a weekend by myself, for myself!

Hello, Chicago, nice to meet you!

I focussed on the classes that pertained to publishing and pattern design.  They were all fanstastic and I learned so much!  I made new, wonderful friends and I received fabulous advice from people in the quilting industry.

Earlier in my post I mentioned the welcoming quilting community I experienced when I first ventured out of my house.  Well, I cannot begin to describe how welcomed I felt at Sew Pro, and noone embodied that sense of inclusiveness more than Pat Sloan, one of the keynote speakers.  Pat walked table to table introducing herself before she spoke (like no one already knew who she was, right?) and she has remained active on the Sew Pro Facebook page sharing words of wisdom and cheering members on as they meet their goals and celebrate accomplishments.

It is in her honor that I created this, my first pattern that I am sharing here;

Rising Star

The pattern is paper piecing, finished size is a miniature 4.5 x 6.5 inch quilt.  I used Pat Sloan’s HomeTown Girl Batiks. Perfect for decorating.

Or, you can send some holiday postcards.

(I very much want to mail these to someone!  Leave a comment and I will pick two people to receive these)

The past few months have been a whirlwind.  I’ve tried out some new things and some worked and some failed.  I just tell myself that one day the ‘fails’ will be funny stories for me to tell as a keynote speaker at a future Sew Pro.

A bit of advice that I repeatedly heard at Sew Pro was “ASK.”  Don’t be afraid to ask.  Don’t be afraid to ask for exactly what you want.

Here I go, I am asking…

You’re about to see some of my quilt designs that I plan to create patterns for and put into an etsy shop in the new year.  I’m asking all fabric designers reading here to look them over and think about showcasing one of your fabric lines with my pattern.  I’m asking all pattern makers to think about being a tester for me.  I’m asking distributors and publishers to consider my work.  Contact me if you think we could work together.

Rainbow Twirls and Aurora Borealis

Rainbow Twirls

Aurora Borealis

Star Flower and Patchwork Blocks

Star Flower

Patchwork Blocks

Valor, Jubilee, Ice, and Fall

Valor

Jubilee

Ice

Fall

I love how patterns can look so different just by playing with colors.

Wait…there’s more!!!

A couple of give-aways…

It would bring me so much joy to mail the two postcards I made.  Leave me a comment here and I will randomly select two people on Saturday, November 19th.

As part of this blog hop, there is a Rafflecopter giveaway giving away three bundles of fabrics and patterns.

Please stop by all the other wonderful participants in the Sew Pro Blog hop.  Everyone has so much to share.

Monday Nov 14

Lisa Peterson – https://lisaandlorelai.com/

Sherri Noel – Rebeccamaedesigns.com

Andi Stanfield – http://truebluequilts.com/

Brooke Gilbert – http://stitchedprintingcompany.com/p/blog

Tuesday Nov 15

Vanessa Behymer – https://vintagebarngirl.wordpress.com/

Pam Cobb & Lynn Rinehart – http://www.thestitchtvshow.com

Sherry Shish – www.poweredbyquilting.com

Joanne Kerton – www.canuckquilter.com

Lisa Nielsen – http://thequiltjam.blogspot.com/

Wednesday Nov 16

Carmen Ross – seecarmensew.com

Anne Beier – http://www.hudsonvalleyquilts.com/

Jessica Caldwell – www.desertbloomquilting.com

Pamela Morgan – mysweetlittlestitches.com

Thursday Nov 17

Maryanna Powell – www.marvelousauntiem.com

Cathy Smith – www.aquiltingchick.com

Lissa LaGreca – lovinglylissa.com  <-That’s me!!!

Paula Mamuscia – https://creationsbypaulamamuscia.wordpress.com/

Angie Tackett – http://www.mystitchstory.com/

Friday Nov 18

Becca Fenstermaker – prettypiney.com

Holly Stockley – www.lighthouselanedesigns.com

Teri Seal – daymoonquilts.blogspot.com

Trinia Braughton – www.penguinfeats.com

Deanna Wall – https://www.stitchesquilting.com/

Oh, I’m going to ask one more thing before I go.  This is my first blog hop and I have had so much fun.  If you are planning a blog hop, please think of me, I would love to participate.  I would also love to participate in any sew alongs that may be starting in the new year.

Lovingly,

Lissa