Words to Live By Block 11

                                             Courage

Another wonderful design!  I love the Laurel wreath pattern with the berries.   I know I am behind schedule...I apologize.  Hopefully I will be caught up tomorrow with Block 12.   My daughter became engaged over the holidays and we have been wedding planning.  We are all so excited.

If you are just joining us, we are making Lisa Bongean's Words to Live By Quilt  - a block each month.  Lisa is the designer of Primitive Gatherings and has hand selected all of the wool and cottons for this BOM kit.  It is not too late to join.  We still have 4 complete kits left!   We are almost finished, but we will leave the hints and pictures up for you.

Lots of small berries and leaves to trace.  I traced the small wool squares with a pencil on my fusible web.  That way I could fit all of the berries inside the small squares.   As you can see I also made good use of the center of the green circular vine.

So I was so careful with my leaves and circular vine when pressing.   Make sure to  "press in place".   Do not "iron" or your leaves and berries will move.  Even a shot of steam can blow off the berries.

The other hint I have for you (which I didn't do) is to take a quick picture with your phone before pressing.  I see now that a few of the leaves are lying closer to the vine than the others.  Had I noticed that before pressing, I would have moved them out just a little. 

I used a pencil to trace some pattern lines on the fabric - just a side of each leaf and the berries.   Also, trace the stems you will need to embroider.  I did this right after inking in the Courage letters, keeping the pattern and fabric in place.  

Happy Sewing

Words to Live By Block 10

Passion

Passion: a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something...

  

 I think this may also be another word for work.  Except it is work you LOVE.  I think that is how many of us feel about quilting.

  I had an art teacher in college that used to say great art is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.   He instructed us to get to know our medium until we really understood it.   

  I have learned so much with this project.  

If you are just joining us, we are making Lisa Bongean's Words to Live By Quilt  - a block each month.  Lisa is the designer of Primitive Gatherings and has hand selected all of the wool and cottons for this BOM kit.  It is not too late to join.  We still have 6 kits left!   

I take pictures of these appliques with the fusible web to help you with the placement.  I hope this is helpful since the camera doesn't always capture the difference in color and pattern.  Watch that oval - the fusible web may come apart as you are cutting the pencil pattern out.  Just re-position it when you press it to the wool.

This block has diamond leaves.  I traced the diamonds in two different patterns so that you could see how much space was left on the wool.  Either way is great.  I did like the nice little squares of wool left over on the right and left  pieces.  I thought the center diagram would be best but that just left me with a long scrap of wool.

I traced the vine lines for the embroidered vines with a sharp pencil.  

This is another block I am looking forward to embroidering - I like the larger pieces.  

Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving next week! 

Words to Live By Block 9

Charity

If you are just joining us, we are making Lisa Bongean's Words to Live By Quilt  - a block each month.  A beautiful Heirloom Quilt.   Lisa is the designer of Primitive Gatherings and has hand selected all of the wool and cottons for this BOM kit.  It is not too late to join.  We still have a few kits just waiting for you!  This is a great project if you have never done embroidery with wool.   We are beginners too!

We have tagged all of our blocks under the Block of the Month tab if you need to catch up.

Block 9 appliques are each separate pieces - no two are the same.  So you will need to trace each one.  Good news - they are all good size pieces except one.    Lisa has all ready grouped them together for you in the pattern.  If you are not sure which pieces to group together, notice in your instructions how the pattern piece numbers are grouped together by the color of wool. 

Notice all of the beautiful texture in the wools.  I love the batik looking these red wool flowers. 

 Remember to use light strokes and then go over what you need to without letting the marker "sit" on the fabric - it will bleed.   I had just a smidgeon of  marker bleeding on my "C" - the end dot. 

This block will be fun to embroidery!

How are you coming on the embroidery?  I am waiting for some pictures!  Please send me some.

I am a little behind.  But - I did finish the Loyalty Block last month.  

I had hoped to have one block embroidered before I applique another block.  Oh well.  I am a little more than half way.  The stems and leaves all get a very light olive green Valdini thread.  It looks a little gold in the picture.  Loving these birds.

This has been a fun project for me.  I am learning so much.  Guess you can teach an old dog new tricks!

Remember to send us some pictures of your finished projects!  Did you see last weeks sharing day?  It was awesome.

Happy Sewing 

Kristin and Sandra

Words to Live By Block 6

Trust

First Happy Birthday to Sandra on the 28th!  We hope you had a wonderful celebration!  Sandra and I are taking turns blogging this BOM.  But since it was her birthday and she was in charge of her husbands family reunion AND this next weekend is a holiday, I decided to surprise her and post the next block for her. Happy Birthday Sandra!   I had this already to go yesterday but had a picture issue with my camera, and had to have my husband help me when he was available.  This won't hit Sandra's email until the day after her birthday, but I think she will still be surprised.

Block 6 is Trust.  Can you believe we are on block 6?   Again we love the felted wool chosen for this project.  They are all soft nice weight wool and the edges do not fray easily - if at all.   You will love how easy they are to applique.  I think I will be wanting a green houndstooth wool skirt for Fall to match.  I love this green houndstooth for the leaves.

This time I very lightly traced the shape of the wool on my fusible web paper side and then fit all of the small pieces inside.  As you can see, I was able to save a little extra wool.  Also, I did notice that the instructions say to cut out 12 of the Flower Bottoms (Receptacle) but only 10 are used in the block.   See below.

Notice the 2 bottom flowers at the beginning of the stems.  They do not have the bottom part of the flower.  On this block, I did the lettering first.  I did this because I needed to use a light box to mark the stem placements.  I also marked where the flowers ended and where the birds were to be positioned.  I think my bird wings are a little higher that the pattern.  I didn't mark every applique.  You may want to if you are worried about placement.  The great thing about this applique project is that you do have a little leeway in positioning some of the pieces.  I ran into a little problem with the leaves that are closest to the wings.   But I am still happy with the result.  If you want to see how Lisa Bongean's block looked CLICK HERE and scroll down through the blocks.  Linda of The Quilted Pineapple did an amazing quilting job on this quilt.

This is how the block is when you are working on it.  As you can see, there are little pressed center markings still in my block.  Since taking this picture, I have gone back and traced on the embroidery lines.  Now I just need to learn a feather stitch (for the wings).

How is your hand work coming along.  I have almost finished with block one and I plan to do an easy one next.  I will post pictures as soon as I have finished.  Please please send me pictures of your blocks so we can post them too!

Happy Sewing

Kristin and Sandra

Words to Live By Block 5

Loyalty

 Loyalty is another favorite block of mine.  I have to say that I am always surprised when I press on the wool appliques.  I love the texture, the colors, and the patterns in the dyed wool.  A big Shout Out to Lisa Bongean.  She has selected all of the wool for the kits and I love them.   I even received a "Wow" from my son!

 If you are just joining us, we are making Lisa Bongean's Words to Live By Quilt  - a block each month.  Lisa is the designer of Primitive Gatherings and has hand selected all of the wool and cottons for this BOM kit.  It is not too late to join.  We still have some kits just waiting for you!

 Remember for block 5 to trace all those small images together to save you time and reduce waste.  As you can see I needed to cut out a few separately.  You may want to trace a rectangle the size of your wool and then fit in all of the small heart flower petals.   Watch out the red wool pieces are similar in size.   Although it probably wouldn't really matter if they were mixed up. SAVE those left over wools pieces for another project - they are gold. 

 The background for this block is one of my favorite Primitive Gathering prints.  The only thing with the little black flowers and vines is that they seemed to appear as part of the lettering.
To find the center of my block, I lightly press each way in half as you can see.  This helps with the wool placement as well.

 This picture with my phone might give you better detail.  I went over the Loyalty word twice to make it darker.  BE CAREFUL though and do that only when it has dried from the first inking.  Remember light strokes with the pen. Otherwise you might get some ink bleeding.

I really love this block.  I am going to make some additional half-square triangles today.  As soon as our Sisters & Quilters work is finished.

I hope you are enjoying these blocks as much as I am.

You can find kits available on sistersandquilters.com.  If you don't want to adventure into the big quilt, try some single blocks for beautiful pillows or table runners.  And you can really write in any word that you want.  A family name would be perfect. Send us a message if you are interested in purchasing any of the blocks separate.

Happy Sewing!

Words of Live By Block 4 BOM

 

Hospitality

I'm a few weeks late on posting this but I am working on it!! :) I love how the wool is so easy to work with and how the patterned wool creates more added interest to the block. I have my first one almost done and quite enjoy the hand work. I wonder how easy it would be to do a buttonhole stitch on a sewing machine. If you have done it, leave a comment and tell us if it's any different with the wool and send pictures, we want to see!

 If you are just joining us, we are making Lisa Bongean's Words to Live By Quilt  - a block each month.  Lisa is the designer of Primitive Gatherings and has hand selected all of the wool and cottons for this BOM kit.

As Kristin mentioned this is NEW for both of us but we are really enjoying this beautiful pattern and fabric designed by Lisa. I have yet to try out the triangle pieces for the quilt. How are you coming on yours?

 

Here is a close up of my "Hospitality" after I embroidered it on my Bernina. I love doing this. This is one reason I bought my machine two years ago. I love to create!!

 

Here are all my pieces laid out on the wool. I had to lay all of the red flower buds pretty snug to get them all to fit on the red plaid, but there is enough. There is a little extra of the green that I saved for future use. YES, I am guilty of saving scraps!! Maybe not such a good thing, but you never know when you will need a scrap right??

One thing I really love about this process is that you don't have to be perfect on the placement. As long as you have enough for the seams going around the block you are good. I cut my fabric 13" so I can allow for any shift when I do my embroidery work. My block isn't perfect but these blocks are turning out beautiful! It's fun to pick up and work on.

You can find kits available on sistersandquilters.com. We thought the single blocks would also make beautiful pillows for those that don't want to adventure in making the full quilt. Send us a message if you are interested in purchasing any of the blocks separate.

HAPPY SEWING!!



Words to Live By Block 3 BOM

Kindness

I am really enjoying this quilt kit.  I love how the wool adds so much dimension and texture to the blocks.  You will love it too.  Now I just need to add the hand-stitching.  My favorite part of this block is the plaid patterns in the wool.  It is beautiful in the leaves and flowers.

 If you are just joining us, we are making Lisa Bongean's Words to Live By Quilt  - a block each month.  Lisa is the designer of Primitive Gatherings and has hand selected all of the wool and cottons for this BOM kit. I will admit this quilt is a stretch for me.  But so far....soooooo good.

If you want to see Sandra's Love Block 2 with the words embroidered by machine CLICK HERE 

If you want to begin with Block 1 Joy CLICK HERE

 There are several small wool cut outs in this block.  It helps to trace the small circles together in rows.  It will save you a little on the wool.    I did trim the stems just a little thinner towards one end before I pressed them on.  That way they look more like stems.

 If you have received your cotton finishing kit, you can begin your half-square triangles.   Follow your pattern cutting instructions.  I am going to make a set each month. This was the first time I have tried the Triangles on a roll paper guides.  So so much faster.  And no pencil lines to draw!  NOTE - When you pin your fabric with right sides together, place the lighter fabric on the top.  (Not like I did).  When you cut and press the half-square triangles open, it will be easier for you to tear the paper off.

 Stitch right along the stitching lines.  Use a smaller stitch than you normally do so that you can tear away the paper easily.  I just followed the arrows.

 Next cut along the solid lines.  I cut the outsides off first.

 Press your triangles towards the dark side with the paper still attached.  Then tear away the paper guide.  This will be easy if you placed the light fabric on the top.  If you didn't then you can gently tear away the papers and then press.  Be gentle.  Your first set will tell you if you need to lower your stitch length.

Back to the Kindness Block.  Follow the pattern guide and arrange your wool cuts outs.  Press!  Look at those fun plaids and herringbone patterns in the wool. 

If you want to join us, we still have some kits left.  Here is the LINK

Note that Words to Live By Wool Blocks 4-6 are available for purchase.

Happy Sewing! 

We were covered in snow this morning.  I put Disney's Frozen DVD on and cut out those wool pieces.  Perfect afternoon!

Love-Words to Live By Block Two

Love

 

 

Aren't these LOVE birds so cute! Hence "Love" Block Two of "Words to Live By". I started this beautiful block on a weekend getaway with some friends. The guys went skiing and the girls stayed back at the cabin to sew and visit. I didn't get it all done in one day hahaha, but have it all ready to do the hand work in my free time while in the car or while watching a favorite TV show.

 

 

Instead of using the pen like Kristin did I chose to use my fairly new embroidery machine to do the words. I am still learning, but once I had it hooped correctly and the size adjusted, it stitched away!! YAY!  I "LOVE" how it turned out. I used the pattern to measure the word and then adjusted the word size on my machine. What do you think?

 

Here are all my applique pieces laid out. Make sure when you start with the green that you do the long stems first, using the full width of the wool. The pattern suggests that you attach 2" of the fusible webbing and then rotary cut three 1/4" strips. My piece was a little smaller and it slid a little when I cut the last one so make sure you use the 2" as the pattern says. 

 



  

 

Here is my rough layout before ironing. I laid the vines out first laying the pattern over the block checking often to make sure the placement was close.

 

 

Make sure you have the dip in the heart lined up with the point of the background fabric.

 

I trimmed off the excess wool vines leaving just enough to hide the edge underneath. Now it's time to do the hand work.

I took my first few stitches and realized I need to use a smaller needle. It is way too thick and is really hard to push through the wool. I hope you will join us in the fun and can learn a little from our tips.

Join us each month as we blog and sew the Words to Live By Quilt Block of the Month Program designed by Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings.  All of the fabrics and wool are by Primitive Gatherings.

Kristin and I have assembled the kits!  They are ready to ship.  The next 6 customers receive a FREE Marking Pen and a FREE Half-Square Triangle Paper Guides Roll!   These kits are the starting registration kits. They include all of the Primitive Gatherings cottons for the triangles and border. This is 10 3/4 yards of fabric.  CLICK HERE for kits.

The 12 block wool kits are sold separately - by month or by quarter. Purchase by the quarter to save on shipping charges.  Each kit comes with the wool applique fabrics and 1/2 yard of the neutral Primitive Gatherings cotton.  Note - This tan cotton print will also be used in the half-square triangles and the corner blocks.  The final wool kit will be the center applique and corner blocks applique - they also have great messages.

If you have any questions, feel free to email us!  Happy to help! 



 

 

 



Joy - Words to Live By Block One

Joy 

I have to say that I love this JOY block.  The floral wool applique images dance. Maybe the word dance comes to mind because I was watching the Olympic Ice Dancing Teams when I began my hand stitching. This applique came together beautifully.
Join us each month as we blog and sew the Words to Live By Quilt Block of the Month Program designed by Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings.  All of the fabrics and wool are by Primitive Gatherings .

Remember - If you are joining us, please email me photos of your blocks and we will post them!

Helps or Hints:
Thread - I love hand stitching with the 12 weight thread. I don't have the Valdani threads that the pattern calls for in any of the shops nearby, so I purchased a couple of 12 wt. Sulky petite spools which are 50 yards each. Each strand is the same as 2 strands of embroidery floss.  No uneven threads, separating, or tangles.  Very easy to use.  I am a fan!  You can also use embroidery floss.

 Pens - Your kits will include the Ultra Fine Permanent Marking Pens called for in the pattern.  I was mostly happy with the pen.  Just use a LIGHT touch when tracing your image for the fine lines.  Fill in the thicker areas but don't keep filling in the area to make it darker!  Maybe wait and let it dry before darkening.  As you can see the little ball at the end of the J bled just a little.  I will be more careful next time.

Fusible web - When I trace the image I want on the paper side of the fusible web, I always leave about 1/8 - 1/4 each space outside the line.  Then I cut through the webbing and wool at the same time for a more accurate image.

Press a slight crease to find the center of your cotton block.  I folded the square in half, pressed in the center and then repeated the process by folding the block in the opposite direction.  This gave me a center guideline AND a line for the stems. Worked perfectly.  Make sure to follow Lisa's pattern instructions for pressing wool appliques.

The kits are ready to mail!

Sandra and I have assembled the kits!  They are ready to ship.  The first 8 customers receive a FREE Marking Pen and a FREE Half-Square Triangle Paper Guides Roll!     These kits are the starting registration kits.  They include all of the Primitive Gatherings cottons for the triangles and border.  This is 10 3/4 yards of fabric.  CLICK HERE for kits.
The 12 block wool kits are sold separately - by month or by quarter.   Purchase by the quarter to save on shipping charges.  Each kit comes with the wool applique fabrics and 1/2 yard of the neutral Primitive Gatherings cotton.  Note - This tan cotton print will also be used in the half-square triangles and the corner blocks.  The final wool kit will be the center appliques and corner blocks appliques - they also have great messages.

If you have any questions, feel free to email us!  Happy to help! 

Happy Sewing!
Kristin and Sandra

We are excited to be offering the "Words To Live By" Block of the Month Program

"Words To Live By Quilt"

 Finished Quilt Measures 86" x 86"

As soon as we saw this, we knew we had to offer this heirloom Quilt Kit.  Join us each month on our blog as we create this fabulous quilt.  Hand stitch the wool applique each month on the Primitive Gatherings cotton fabric squares.

12 Large Block words:
Family~ Joy~ Hospitality~ Love~ Kindness~ Loyalty~ Courage~ Trust~ Hope~ Honor~ Charity~ Passion
4 Corner Blocks:
Unity~ Humor~ Respect~ and a Signature Square (could also be a family name)

Reserve your kit now!  This new Block of the Month Program begins in February 2014.  (The wool applique block can be available for purchase quarterly to save you monthly shipping costs).

First payment now of $148.25 will be for the 10 3/4 yards of Cotton Primitive Gatherings fabrics to make the cotton quilt triangles, border, and binding. This also includes the full Words to Live By Quilt/Applique Pattern. We are sending this kit out first so that you can work on some of your half-square triangles each month.

Payments 1-12 will be $21.50 for each wool applique kit mailed out for 12 months beginning February 2014.  Each month you will receive wool applique fabrics and 1/2 yard of the cotton background for the applique and small triangles.

Month 13 will be $48.00 for the Wool Finishing Kit - this is the wool for the larger center block and the 4 small corner blocks.


Shipping will be in addition:
The Primitive Gatherings Cotton Kit yardage will be $12.35 to ship in the US.
Each monthly kit will be approx. $3 to $4 if you are in the US.
If you choose to have your kits mailed quarterly, the shipping would be $5.95

NOTE - To save you on shipping each month, we will be able to mail 3 monthly kits out quarterly. Just email us that you want to do this and we will set it up for you.  The cost would be $64.50 for the 3 kits and $5.95 for the shipping.


To see Lisa on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmpVwTSNfys

Linda from thequiltedpineapple.com was kind enough to give us permission to share with you her post about this quilt. Each picture shows her beautiful quilting!! This quilt was designed and stitched by Lisa Bongean as a 2013 Summer Block of the Week for Primitive Gatherings. We were told theyquickly sold out. You can see why as you scroll through the pictures. To see this quilt finished visit Linda's post here.  http://www.thequiltedpineapple.com/2013/11/words-to-live-by-quilt.html  

To purchase your starting kit & reserve your 12 monthly kits and finishing kit click HERE

Here are some helpful notions that go along with this quilt.

Triangles on a Roll to help you make your triangles for this quilt spot on!

Karen Kay Buckley's 4" Perfect Scissors are great sharp scissors for that applique!

Look on sistersandquilters.com in our notions section HERE