Infinity Scarf with Valorie Wells Knits

 A couple of months ago my friend Mary Ann made a beautiful infinity scarf for me using Valorie Wells' and Free Spirit's "Wish" knit fabrics.   

Today Mary Ann made another scarf for me from this blue pattern.  Lots of infinity scarf patterns can be found online.  These are great for holiday gifts and only take about 1/2 hour to make!  Here's how she did it:

Cut a 9" x by 54" piece of knit fabric, then fold it in half, lengthwise, with right sides together.

Leaving a 3" opening at the beginning and end, sew along the long edge of the scarf using a knit machine needle and a walking foot, if desired, to control the fabric.   Mary Ann used a 1/4" foot and a Universal needle for this easy-to-manage knit fabric.

Here's the trick:  put your hand in one end of the "tube" you've made and and bring the other end of the tube inside and back to where your hand is.  This will leave your ends with right sides together.    Match up the edges (like in the photo below) and sew that seam at the edge with a 1/4" seam.  Note:  There will still be an opening for turning.

Through the opening, turn your scarf right sides out.  It should look like this when you are done, with the scarf  shaped like a circle.

 Press the scarf so that it will lay nicely, and then stitch up the opening with needle and thread.

 Here's the finished product!    Isn't it beautiful on Mary Ann?

She made one for herself, too, and it's perfect with the outfit she's wearing today, yes?

Thanks, Mary Ann!

Anita

Basting on a Wall

This morning two of my beginner quiltmaking students came over to spray baste their quilt sandwiches on my spray basting wall.

It's so easy to do and so fast compared to any other basting method I've used before.  The method was developed by Patsy Thompson, machine quilting guru.  Here's a link to Patsy's wall spray basting technique:

Patsy Thompson

Lori and Stacy's quilts are lovely and they are both ready for machine quilting!

Cabarrus Quilt Show

Come and visit us at the Cabarrus Quilt Show in Concord, NC this weekend if you're in the area.  Concord us just to the northeast of Charlotte.

http://www.cabarrusquiltersguild.org/Quilt_Show.html

The Jacksonville QuiltFest Show

We were first-time vendors at the Jacksonville QuiltFest Show this weekend.  It was the best quilt show I had seen in quite a while.  The quilts were of high quality with fine workmanship and there was a nice variety of quilt styles--traditional, modern, fiber art and miniature.

These were my favorites:

(The artist's name and quilt information is with each set of photos)

 This quilt was outstanding and it was my overall favorite of the show.  This piece did not win a ribbon, but a similar quilt by the same artist (shown at the bottom of this page) won a ribbon.

The owl wall hanging below was Bill's favorite piece and I loved it too.  The wings had, I believe, actual owl feathers.  Wonderful!

 

Patricia Styring's smaller quilt, below,  won a ribbon.  Her style is quite appealing and her quilts give the viewer plenty of eye candy to discover.

 Other favorites...

 

Beautiful Day!

It is such a beautiful morning that I grabbed a seat on the dock outside of Sewcial Studio to take in the cool breeze and listen to the birds.  It's a great way to start the day...

Ahh, Sewing

As a business woman I have crossed a line between working on Quick Books all the time and learning it enough to actually have some time to sew too!   Let's give a big hooray!

Back for More

Seems like ages since I posted last.  This broken ankle is finally healing and I'm getting back to most of my old routines.  It will take four more weeks to get back to 100% function.  Can't wait for that!

Here are a few quilts that have been made recently for the store and for our home.

Joyce made this store sample from the pattern "Just Can't Cut It" ...

The next piece was made from a fabric from Nairobi, Kenya.  Marybeth from Cambridge Lane quilted it for us and it now hangs in our house...

Last, but not least, is my "Wildflower Garden" piece--hand-dyed by me and quilted by Marybeth.  We won an Honorable Mention ribbon for it this month.

Sewing Again

I've been sewing this weekend after a long hiatus.  Owning a first-year quilt store has put a bit of a cramp in my sewing schedule, but my broken ankle made that worse.   At last, I have a cast that can come off and I can use that foot to drive my car and sewing machine again.   Woohoo!

I'm using a Tonga Treat 5" Mini pre-cut batik set to make a sample for Sewcial Studio.  My inspiration came from the Summer 2012 issue of Generation Q Magazine.  Click here for a link to the pattern.  Their pattern uses 7 1/2" blocks, but mine will be smaller.

Here's what's on my makeshift design wall...

I need more background fabric before continuing, but I like it so far!