Made My Own Tortilla Salad Shells

So a few years ago I bought 2 pans to make tortilla shells  but had never used them.   Since I was making al the fixings for soft tacos I went searching for them.  I found them packed away in the basement and no longer had any instructions with them. After searching on the Internet I decided I should bake them for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

 

 

Since my flour tortillas had been stored in the refrigerator, I wrapped them in a wet tea towel and zapped them for 30 seconds to make them pliable.  Then I put them into the tortilla pan pushing them into the crevices. I placed them into the preheated oven for 15 minutes and they were slightly browned. I figure baking them has to be healthier than the fried shells you get when dining out.

 



I filled my shell with lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheddar cheese, hot refried beans, taco flavored ground meat and finished it all off with a dollup of sour cream and two spoonfuls of salsa. It was a delicious salad and I ate every last bit of the shell!

Variations of Bright Hope Design

Above is a baby quilt I made from the Bright Hope Design pattern I have written about previously. In the post Two Sided Binding I have a picture of the lap quilt variation I designed from it.  Below is a baby quilt made by Maureen in a class that I taught using this pattern. I have found this pattern to be so versatile.

 

On both of these baby quilts we did a self binding.  We used the Quick Easy Mitred Binding Tool http://www.sewbizmarion.com/shop/Quilting-Tools/p/Quick-Easy-Mitered-BINDING-Tool.htm.  This is the first time I did a self binding using the backing fabric and I must say that it is worth every penny you pay for the template. The mitre is perfect every time. I used the edge joining foot to sew the front in place and it is very even.

Bridal Shower Gifts

For a recent bridal shower I made a fanblade table topper and coasters to match.  Then I bought a lovely bowl to place in the center of the topper.  I also like to always add the bride and groom's name to an item so I embroidered 2 kitchen towels with their names stacked on their last initial. The topper is made from the pattern I wrote about earlier in AQS Quilt Show and the fabric I used I had bought at Burkholders in Denver, PA that I visited during that trip.

 

 

Here is a pic of the lovely bride and her bridesmaids.

 

 

 

Using Up That Fabric Stash

I had this lovely floral linen fabric sitting in my stash for some time now; maybe two years or so, and decided to make a sleeveless summer dress in anticipation of some nice weather. I chose a Simplicity pattern #4552, View A, that I also had bought some time ago but have never used.

 

 

  Cutting the proper size is always a mystery with patterns. In Ready To Wear, I wear a size 10 or 12, but in the pattern world, I can make anywhere from a size 12 to a size 16.  So my measurements would correlate with a size 16 on the pattern envelope but when I looked at the ease measurements, I realized that a 16 would be huge on me.  I settled on cutting a size 12 for the neck and armholes and a size 14 on the side seams.  This pattern is really easy to sew and is a snap once you decide on your cutting lines. My fabric had a border so I tried to line it up with my hem.  Unfortunately I still needed to cut off another 2 inches to make it mid knee.  I had originally cut off 2 inches from the pattern hem initially since I am only 5'2". The neckline and armhole edges are made with a fabric strip that you cut on the bias.  I chose to use my coverstitch on these edges once I turned the strip in. This makes a really nice finished edge.

 

 

 

Sewing with Friends

There is nothing more memorable than a day of sewing with friends.  My friend Renee had been given a soiled and tattered quilt that had been made by her sister-in-law's grandmother and she wanted it repaired to give to her daughter. It definitely had been a utility quilt that looked like it had been made from possibly an old sheet and a blanket. After she spent months trying to get inspiration, I showed her a quilt I had made from the Bright Hope Design which had embroidery machine appliqued flowers on it. She decided that it was exactly what the fabrics needed. So she saved what she could of the threadbare original and bought some coordinating fabrics. In the photo below, the original fabrics are the light blocks that have green and blue large floral designs on them and the center green block. The colors were hard to match since they were so faded but the dark blue made the design pop. The binding will be done in this blue so it will pull it all together.

We used scraps form the blocks to make the appliqued flowers. We had 3 embroidery machines set up in my sewing room and were able to make the 16 appliqued blocks in under 2 hours.

 

At the same time, we had 3 sewing machines set up in my dining room to sew the blocks and rows together.

 

 

 

 

It is amazing that in about 5 hours, we were able to make an entire quilt top plus we did stop for a great lunch from Panera's also. I am thinking that I would like to make all my quilt tops this way since it goes so much faster.

The end result is a quilt top that weaves together remnants of a family's heritage into a new design that employs old and new techniques that will last for many generations to come.

AQS Quilt Show

Last weekend I attended the American Quilt Society Quilt Show in Lancaster, PA.  The day spent at the show was both exhausting and enjoyable. I was in need of some new patterns so the three floors of vendors allowed me to prowl many vendors before deciding which patterns to buy. The best part of this search was getting to talk to some of the pattern designers. My favorite was Laura Blanchard with Plum Tree Quilts. We so enjoyed talking with Laura and her husband and ended up buying 4 patterns from her.  The patterns are relatively simple but the blocks can be set in different layouts so one pattern can make several quilts with varying designs. From Plum Tree Quilts I got the Kaleidoscope, Center Court, and Two by Two quilt patterns and the Glory runner and placemat pattern. I also got a crib quilt pattern from Starr Design Fabrics that uses graduated colors and has prairie points on the border.

My friends and I also visited many quilt shops in the area.  Honestly I have never been to one area that had so many large quilt shops. The good part of this is that the prices are lower due to the competition. The Batiks were everywhere and so many of them. A few of my favorites shops were The Old Country Store in Intercourse, Burkholders in Denver, Sylvia's and Weaver's Dry Goods in Lititz.

Another aspect was getting to see the many hand made items for sale, mostly made by the Amish. It was good to see that they attach a suitable price for most items.  It takes so much time to make the items that I hate to see them being sold at a low price because this devalues their work.

When I got home on Sunday, I went through my purchases and knew I had to make something on Monday. I chose the pattern for a Fanblade Table Topper, shown above. It was an easy topper to make and I plan to make several more. I free motion quilted the blades after it was all pieced together.
One of my other purchases at the show was pounce and several pounce design sheets from Full Line Stencils. I have never used pounce so I tried one of the linear designs on the dark blades. I discovered that following a marked design is actually very different than FMQ. The trick is to go slower and have your eye on the design ahead of the needle. I am going to need quite a bit of practice to get the hang of it.

My Latest Baby Shower Gifts

I made this Elephant baby quilt for a baby shower this past weekend.  The colors of the room are yellow and gray so I used that color combination. I used 2 different machine applique elephants and when I did the quilting I echo quilted around the elephants. On the border, my favorite part, I meandered. The gender of the baby was not known so I tried to stay with yellow, purple and green.  I used the Bright Hope baby quilt pattern from Smith Designs. 

 A few weeks ago I attended a class given by a Pfaff educator and she demonstrated how to use the Sensormatic Echo Free motion foot; I bought it that day knowing that I was going to use it for the elephants. It was really easy to use to quilt around an object.  I actually have the same foot for my Elna and did not know the technique for using it properly.

 

 

I also made some burp cloths in the same manner as my tutorial Burp Cloths shown earlier on my blog. These are made with diapers and flannel.

 

 

 

 





Making Burp Cloths

 

I have been making personalized burp cloths, see my  Previous Post, for awhile and I really like the ones I do with diapers and I think they are more absorbent.  But every time I need to make another one I have to dig out my scribbled notes.  So I have decided to write a tutorial and not have to go through the search and discovery method each time.


Supplies:

Diaper - wash and dry.  The diaper should measure 17 inches in length so sometimes I have to cut.   It will not be 15 inches wide; that is ok because you want it to be smaller in width.
Flannel - 17 inch X 15 inch (I wash in hot water and dry on hot prior to construction)


So the first thing I do is embroider on the front of the diaper in the top 1/3 in center. I use medium weight tear-a-way stabilizer.

 

Next I lay the flannel right side up and lay the  diaper right side down on top of it.  I line up the left sides and sew a 1/4 inch seam. Remember the length of the flannel and diaper should be the same but not the width.

 

 

Next I line up the right sides and sew a 1/4 inch seam.  I want to have the flannel showing on both sides of the front so the width of the flannel is larger than the width of the diaper.

 

For the top seam I line up the raw edges with the flannel extending an inch or so on both sides. I just make it extend equally on both sides. and sew the top seam.

 

Sew the bottom seam last leaving an opening to turn right side out.  Before turning clip the four corners. Once turned sew a zigzag or decorative stitch around the perimeter.

 

 

 

 

 

Two Sided Binding

Once in awhile I am binding a quilt or runner and cannot decide on the binding because my fabric just doesn't coordinate with the backing and the front.  So today I had this quandary and decided to make a two sided binding.  I only do this occasionally so I decided to make a tutorial for myself because it took me all morning to get it right. I also made a sample for myself to hang on my peg board for the next time.  The front of the binding matches one of the batiks used and the back binding matches the backing.

 

 

 

 

 

Cutting the binding strips.

 

I sew my binding onto the back so that when it is flipped to the front I can machine stitch on the front so these directions will follow the procedure I use.

 

Front binding strips are cut to 1 5/8 inch. You will need enough strips to match the lengths of the sides and top and bottom. Each side,  top and bottom are sewn on separately. This 1 5/8 inch strip is folded in half, wrong sides together and pressed.

 

 

 

Back binding strips are cut to 1 1/8 inch. This strip is not folded.

 

 

The front and back binding strips are sewn together by matching raw edges, right sides together, of the folded front binding and the back binding (unfolded), as shown below using a 1/4 inch seam.  Once sewn together, the 1/4 inch seam should be pressed open.

 

 

 

Now sew the binding to both long sides first.  Place the right side of the 1 1/8 inch strip to the right side of the back of the quilt.  Sew in a full 1/4 inch seam; do not use a scant 1/4 inch.

 

 

Press up from the backing side.

 

 

Now turn to the front and sew with an Edge Joining Foot/Stitch in Ditch Foot with the needle moved to 1.3 to right of guide. Trim even with the top and bottom.

 

 

 

 

Now sew the top strip onto the back leaving about an extra 1/2 inch at both sides. When you flip to the front, before sewing onto the front, turn the extra 1/2 inch in to cover the raw edge. Do the same for the bottom and your binding is complete.

 

 

 

The binding will look great from the front and the back and lay flat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



My New Cutting Table - Gate Leg Table

So before Christmas, my generic cutting table from Joann Fabrics has its top come off the legs. To be fair, it was really old, maybe over 15 years old, but my husband once again filled the holes with wood putty and redrilled new holes. The next week we were out shopping and saw this table from Somerton. It can be found at Overstock.com and Walmart. Gate Leg Table    I thought it was so nice but it was my hubby who suggested we get it for my sewingroom to replace my wobbly cutting table. What a great idea!! It extends to 65 X 36 inches exactly like my cutting table but is  about 4 inches shorter which has proven to be a godsend when I am doing a lot of cutting. Being on the shorter side, the regular cutting table height of 35 inches is a little too high for me. Also it is the same height as the table my sewing machine is on so when I am quilting a large item it is supported by the table. Behind that door are shelves for storage.

Better yet, over the holidays we moved it to the livingroom to serve as a buffet table for appetizers when we had guests over.

Free Motion Quilting on the Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.0

Well I have had my Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.0 for about 6 weeks now and finally am comfortable with free motion quilting with the Sensormatic foot.  Originally, I thought I would use the spring free motion foot but actually like this little Sensormatic foot.  I had great difficulty at first and I am not happy there is so little instruction in the manual.  I have searched the web and sewing forums and as usual have found several places with comments and recommendations.  I found that the Pfaff Quilters Forum  http://www.pfafftalk.com/chatroom/mvnforum/index was most helpful on this topic. I took advice from these sources and here is what works for me.

Foot:

Sensormatic free motion foot

 

I had trouble putting on the foot at first.  As shown below the top plastic hooky thing goes in front of the needle bar.

 

 

 Feed Dogs:

 

Lower the feed dogs by pushing the feed dog lever on the front of the machine to the left.

 

 

Settings:

 
Under the Settings Menu (the button with the tool icon) I turn on the Sensormatic Free motion.  I change the Pivot Height to -3 and I turn off the Auto foot lift. This will automatically change the thread tension to 5.2 but on my machine I need to increase it to 5.4 or 5.6 depending on the thread that I am using. This will also automatically set the stitch length to 0.0.

Thread:

I have experimented with embroidery thread, King Tut Quilting Thread and Coats and Clark All Purpose thread.  All have worked well as long as I have the same thread in the top and bobbin. 

Needle:

I am using a 90/14 Organ needle; I had been using a 75/11 and experienced thread shredding and since changing to the 90/14, all is well.



 

 

So now I am quite happy with FMQ on my QE4!!

 

 

 

A Tumbler Runner for ME!

Well I have been taking down the Christmas decorations and my buffet looks empty without the holiday runner on it.  I have a quilted wall hanging beside the buffet and I have leftover fabric from it, so I decided to make a tumbler runner out of this fabric. So here is how the project went.  I made a tumbler runner for my daughter with the 5 inch tumbler ruler and it turned out great.  But at Missouri Quilt Company I watched a video Tumbler Tutorial on making a quilt with the 10 inch and 5 inch tumbler rulers. So I decided to make a runner using both sizes.  It sounded easier than it was; for some reason I just couldn't get it to line up correctly.  I tried to do 1 row of large and 1 row of small tumblers but I could not get it to line up.  So I ripped it all apart twice, really most of the pieces I ripped apart 3 times, and finally got it right.  I would have thrown it all in the trash but it was the only fabric I had to match the wall hanging shown below so I persevered.

 

When I got it sandwiched I wasn't sure how I wanted to quilt it.  In the center larger 4 tumblers I just did free motion stippling which I am pretty happy with.  But between the smaller tumbler rows and on the long sides I decided to use a quilting stitch from the Pfaff QE4.  Now here is the funny story about this decorative stitch.  I rarely read the sewing machine manuals but half way through doing the quilting stitch I see that you are supposed to use transparent thread in the top so that it looks like hand quilting.  Too late but I actually like how it looks; next time I will try some samples of those quilting stitches with invisible thread.