501 Quilting Motifs Book Review

I love reviewing books and Friday is a perfect day for these posts...don't ya think? 

Books are one of my favorite quilting tools....I get so many ideas and information from all my quilting books.  I've noticed recently that I don't have a large supply of Quilt Reference Books.  Books that I can go to for either block designs or quilting designs or basic how to stuff when I'm stuck on something.  So, I've been adding to my Quilt Reference Library and one excellent book that I have found is 501 Quilting Motifs - Designs for Hand or Machine Quilting from the editors of Quiltmaker Magazine and published by Martingale & Company. 

Rarely if ever do I even think about the quilting design when I'm making anything that will be quilted.  That is the last step for my brain to compute.  I spend all my time and energy focused on the fabrics and making sure I've done the design/pattern correctly....then when I'm finished I go into a blank stare when it comes to designs to be quilted.

Ya know, I've seen some pretty basic quilts...nothing fancy....but then when they have been quilted with an amazing pattern the entire quilt is just a masterpiece.  Do ya know what I'm talking about?  I think one of the ways those folks transform their work is by choosing quilt designs that dance on top of the quilt or enhance the pattern and fabric.

 

In order for me to know what would make a quilt dance....I need lots of ideas and that's where the 501 Quilting Motifs book is a perfect tool to help me take that next step.  There are tons of quilting designs (501 to be exact) and they are categorized by sizes so you can check out the area you need filled and flip to that section of the book.  If there is a design I love and it is smaller....I have a printer that enlarges so I just enlarge the design before I transfer it.  There are flower designs, foods, geometric shapes, hearts, seasonal/holiday, vines and leaves, circle and angle patterns, children/teens and feathers too. 

501 Quilting Motifs is spiral bound as you can see...don't you wish all quilting books came spiral bound?  I love spiral bound books because they are much easier to manage and they lay nice and flat on the table.  Ok, back to my book review....I got sidetracked a bit...that happens sometimes.

Check out the Fleur-de-Lis pattern above...not only do you get the pattern but on the side of the pattern there are several lay out designs to give you ideas about what would best enhance your quilt.  Since I'm a visual person that really helps me see how the designs will look once placed together on a quilt.

That's not all either....they also cover tips for choosing your motifs and how to adapt the designs but also the variety of  methods of transferring the designs and  marking tools too.  That's always the sort of information that helps me.  Even thought we all have a method that we use for marking our designs this books also has a table that lists all the different products (generic not specific-pencil, chalk, soap etc).  The table includes advantages and disadvantages of each of the tools.  So many things I don't think about and they've thought of it for me...gotta love that. 

Do you need an addition to your Quilt Reference Library?  If you do, I highly recommend 501 Quilting Motifs....and if you are a IHAN blog follower....I've given it a special price at IHAN (for new followers IHAN stands for http://www.ihaveanotion.com/)  just for you :)  Enter IHANBlog in the coupon code box on the order check out page and you will get a nice discount :) when you order 501 Quilting Motifs (the offer expires 8/31/2011) if you type in the code and you have not ordered this book I will not honor the discount.

Smiles,

Kelly

The Many Hats We Wear

Here at IHAN sometimes we need to dig deep to find our creativity.....which may just require a change of hats.  Ya just never know where or when your inspiration will hit....for example......

Perhaps you'll find it while on Safari.

If you are anything like me...it comes from messes....lots and lots of messes as I pull out every piece of fabric I own...then I get my friends to bring theirs over too...sometimes I have to dig deep to find my creative stride.

And then again, others find may require just another creative shift.....Petals

When Petals don't do it....perhaps ya just need to light a fire under your butt.....or

 Get a little Crazy.....(wild music plays in the background...Jean said she didn't  peg me for Bobby Brown or Will Smith....how wrong she was).

 Sometimes it takes a little Funk to find your stride :)

Then there's always the Super Fly Cheetah that you channel to get your mojo workin'

And just when I thought I was at the end of my creative jag....I phoned Mrs. Rosemary and asked her to bring her wild self over ....and make sure she has some "screamin" batiks in tow :)

Waldo's conundrum was wanting a spider web on a collage she is doing and she didn't know how to do it.  You know what I said....."MISTYFUSE GIRLFRIEND".....I just posted on how to make thread art with Mistyfuse and once again....Mistyfuse to the rescue.   I got her a big piece of foam and she put some pins in it and started winding a spider web....

Then I sprayed it with some starch....and dried it with an embossing gun.  (Waldo didn't know embossing guns are hot, hot, hot and she burned the first one...so we did another one...just use a hair dryer if you do this).

And then Waldo had a spider web'ish embellishment for her project.  But wait....we need to make it stay on the piece....so you know what I did...you guessed it.  I put some Mistyfuse on top and and pressed it very well (this time I left out the photo of me pressing....so sorry but we were having fun and I wasn't being methodical...just horsing around).

Believe it or not....we pressed it in place and I didn't even take a photo....guess we were having too much fun. 

The moral of the story is....when you get stuck on a project....change hats...play wild music....and invite other consenting adults to get crazy with ya!

Smiles and giggles,

Kelly

 

Raise Your E-Notion IQ - Mistyfuse and Applique Template Paper Product Reviews

It's Wednesday again....that means it's time to "Raise Your E-NotionIQ" here at the IHAN blog.  This post would have been up bright and  early but blogger and picasa were fighting with me....better late than never ay? 

Let's start with one of my favorite products...Mistyfuse.  I can't believe it when people say, "I've never heard of Mistyfuse" or "I don't know how to use Mistyfuse."  All I can think is Really?  Let's not let that happen to you or any of your friends :)

Mistyfuse is a fusible that doesn't have paper on the back.  It is one of my favorites because it is so light...you don't have that heaviness that most fusibles leave on your fabric....you can barely feel it behind your fabric.  It works great on all fabrics....cotton, tulle, organza, velvet...it even works on paper

I'm working on my Power Suit Challenge piece so this is a perfect time to show you how I use Mistyfuse.  First....I'm going to show you my inspiration pile of fabrics...I'm not going to give too much information here...not until the big reveal of my Power Suit Challenge submission.

So, this is what Mistyfuse looks like out of the package....light and paperless....just like I said.

You can see in this photo above that I've laid the Mistyfuse on top of the wrong side of a piece of fabric.  Then I take my Goddess Sheet (you can use a Goddess Sheet, another Teflon pressing sheet or parchment paper) and I lay my Goddess Sheet over the Mistyfuse.  Next, I press....Mistyfuse loves heat so don't worry about scorching it. 

Yep, I even took a picture of me pressing the Mistyfuse to the wrong side of my fabric.  :)  After I press it I lift the Goddess Sheet and the fusible is now on the back of my fabric.  It's not magic....its Mistyfuse...LOL.

Since I'm working on my Power Suit Challenge project I'm going to walk you step by step how I made my applique shapes. 

After I fused the Mistyfuse to my fabric I went over to my printer and took my pattern (drawn by the one and only Jean...formerly known as Lois Grabowski :) and I printed each section onto a piece of Ultimate Applique Template Paper.

In my printer the side you want to have printed on goes in facing forward...the shiny side goes toward the back.

Then I press the Applique Paper to the front of my fabric.  You can do press the Mistyfuse and the Applique Paper at one time...for the sake of demonstration I'm doing them separately.

and then cut out my shape. Notice I'm trying very hard not to show you the design? Quit trying to figure it out....its gotta be a surprise!

Now wasn't that simple?  I just peal off the Applique Paper and fuse my piece in place.  I know there are a lot of other methods for transferring designs....I just like this one so I thought I'd tell ya about it. 

Many of you are thinking...then why don't ya just use the other fusibles that come on paper...right?  I'll tell ya why....because those other ones are stiffer and I like my pieces to look and feel like they are one piece of fabric.  There is no added adhisive so it does not gum up your needles...it is light and it feels like its not there.

 

Ok, back to Mistyfuse.  I told ya earlier you can use it on paper and now I'm going to show you a fun way to make a party napkin into a fusible by pressing Mistyfuse to the back and you can sew with it or use it in a collage (of course if you sew with it ya don't was the art piece...don't say I didn't tell ya).

If you use paper napkins....check to see if there is more than one layer of paper used. 

You can see here there is a white background to the napkin....I removed that layer by just pealing it back and off.

Then I did the same thing I did with fabric...put Mistyfuse on the wrong side of the paper napkin and....

Wahhhhh Laaaaa....you have fusible paper napkin....fun isn't it?  If you are the creative sort and want to make a thread design...sort of like a free form art embellishment...you can make your thread fusible too. 

Here you can see I took some thread off the spools and put them together and placed them between my Goddess Sheet that I had folded in half -Goddess Sheet on top and bottom with the thread and Mistyfuse sandwiched in between.

You guessed it...I pressed the thread sandwich....silly to show all the photos but like I always say...I'm a visual person so it helps me to demonstrate each step.

When I opened the Goddess Sheet this is what I had....purple and orange thread fused together.  I didn't press it too long because if I had all of the Mistyfuse would have disappeared....and I wanted some left to make my thread embellishment stick to my background fabric.

This is a before pressing photo.

Yep...pressing the thread to the black fabric....

And here is the thread fused to the black fabric.  If I had put the Mistyfuse over the threads on the black fabric and pressed you would still see some of the Mistyfuse on the black fabric...it shines a little so that's why I put the Mistyfuse on the thread first.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!  Now you can't say you've never heard of Mistyfuse or Ultimate Applique Paper for that matter.

Smiles,
Kelly

IHAN Blog Follwer Special - Up to 40% off In Stock AccuQuilt Dies

IHAN Blog Followers ONLY Sale

I'm doing an inventory reduction and I've listed the AccuQuilt Dies and Mats - IN STOCK ONLY and they are up to 40% off but Only While Supplies Last....when they are gone....they are gone.

Please e-mail your orders to me at IHaveANotion@yahoo.com first in is first to be filled.  If you order through the website you may not get your dies....so please e-mail the order to me.

Click Here to before it is too late.

Smiles,

Kelly

A Touch of Whimsey Winner Announced

I was going to announce the winner tomorrow....but.....well.....I couldn't wait any longer...LOL.

A Touch of Whimsey by Abbey Lane Quilts

Everyone needs a little Sunday night fun right?  The Random Number Generator popped out number 7....and the 7th comment belongs to:

Congratulations PinsAndNeedles!!!  Please send me an e-mail with the shipping address of your choice at IHaveANotion@yahoo.com within three days please.  After that, I will choose another winner.

Thank you Abbey Lane Quilts for your generous gift!!!  For everyone else who entered....I reduced the price of A Touch of Whimsey on my website for blog readers....others don't know I reduced it....and I'll keep it at the special blogger price for 24 hours.....after that...it goes back to it's regular price.

Smiles,

Kelly

A Touch of Whimsey by Abbey Lane Quilts Book Review and Giveaway

Most of you know I didn't make it to Spring Quilt Market in May.  Thankfully there were some very wonderful folks who noticed my absence and sent me e-mails asking where I was.  It was a wonderful feeling I gotta tell ya.  Two of the gals who noticed I was missing were Marcea Owen and Janice Liljenquist from Abbey Lane Quilts.  Once they learned I could not go they immediately shipped me a copy of their latest book to review.  Thanks Marcea and Janice!!!

A Touch of Whimsey

Oh I'm telling you there are some very fun and whimsical patterns in this book.  Check out the wreath pillow at the top of the page, isn't that fun?  Not only does it look nice in cotton....I think it would be beautiful in wool or felted wool as well.  Adding a little personal touch with some embroidery....the possibilities are limitless.  You know me...I'd add one of those little battery operated string of lights too!

The Joy pillow makes me smile.  I love those little dangle balls around the ruffle and the little bells on the stocking.  My grandmother had those dangle balls on her bathroom curtains....I loved playing with them. 

Check out all the different patterns included in A Touch of Whimsey.  So many to choose from....and you know what I was thinking?  How fun it would be to use some of the patterns in wall hangings or reduce the size and put them on a tote or purse.  I really like the witches hat (top right) and I think that would be so fun on a Halloween treat bag or on a t-shirt.  Most of you already think that way....but sometimes I get stuck in my thinking and see patterns only one way....today is not one of those days....thankfully.

Do you need to add a Touch of Whimsey to your life?  Here is your chance.  Leave a comment on this post telling me which design you would make first and I'll choose a winner on Sunday and let you know who won on Monday. 

Thank you Abbey Lane Quilts for thinking of me and for this wonderful book!!

Smiles,

Kelly

Wantobe Quilter Campaign - You can still join in

There seems to be some confusion out there about entering the Wantobe Quilter Campaign because I'm getting comments and e-mails wondering if people can still enter.  The answer is YES you can and you can also refer your family members and friends who don't own a sewing machine, notions or a fabric stash.

This is how it works:  You send your name or your persons name to one of the registered bloggers (I am one of them and my e-mail is IHaveANotion@yahoo.com) along with your e-mail and phone number.  The person who is the Wantobe Quilter stops over at the Stash Manicure blog on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from now until the end of October....that's 3 months of giveaways....and leaves a comment on the post which includes the phrase....."I was sent by Kelly Jackson" or what ever registered blogger they have signed on with.  The winners are announced the next day on the Stash Manicure blog so it's a good idea to keep reading and check out all the fun posts and great guests.

The "experienced quilters" ie those with machines and notions can stop by the Stash Manicure blog and leave comments on Tuesdays and Thursdays to win prizes.  

There are prizes for three months so chances are pretty good that if you keep reading and leaving comments you may win a wonderful prize.  Madame Samm, the moderator for Stash Manicure, has put this campaign together on her own time and money....she is not receiving payment from anyone for doing this huge project....so  the winners will be expected to pay the postage for shipping their prize.   If you don't want the prize please don't leave a comment that day.

None of the information you provide will be used or shared with any third parties and it is not collected for solicitation....no spam or unwanted e-mail or phone calls....this information is just for the database to connect and verify that folks are entered and are followers of the blogs.  If you win and you are not a follower of my blog and Stash Manicure....you won't be eligible and Madame Samm will draw another name...so make sure you've done those things.

Are you a no-reply blogger?  Do you know what one is? 

A no-reply blogger is a person who leaves a comment on a blog and your e-mail address is not linked so there is no way for anyone to reply to your comment.  One of the biggest reasons folks can't win prizes in giveaways. 

To fix it just do this:

In blogger.com, click on Dashboard.

Select Edit Profile.
Check the box for "Show my Email Address."
Save changes.

Oh those photos....are you wondering what on earth the animal photos have to do with the Wantobe Quilter Campaign?  They have nothing to do with it....blog posts are no fun without pictures so I used some I had in Picasa from our recent trip to African Safari in Sandusky OH....I know most of you are not surprised by my silliness.

Giggles and Smiles,

Kelly

Raise Your E-Notion IQ - Gypsy Sit Upon Product Review

It is Wednesday, again, can you belive it?  Where does the time go?  My grandmother was right when she said time goes by so quickly don't wish even one moment away.  It is time to raise your E-Notion IQ here at the IHAN Blog. 

Today I'm reviewing the Gypsy Sit Upon Cushion.  You are probably wondering what in the heck this purple thing has to do with stitching....right?  The first time I saw it I was puzzled until I went over and sat on it....then I knew what the buzz was all about.

First let me tell you what it is then I'll tell ya what it is (sorry to say it does not clean houses....I'm still lookin').  The Gypsy Sit Upon is an air filled flexible cushion to sit on. 

The Gypsy Cushion is great to use while working at your sewing machine, driving , at work, your kids soccer games, even reading....anything you do while sitting down.  It reduces the pressure on your tailbone and helps relieve lower back pain, strengthens your core muscles and improves your posture. 

When I give lectures on Notions at guilds I bring mine and pass it around.  Typically people's first response is to laugh...I think because of the nubs, just guessing...lol....then you see them smile.  I find it usually doesn't make it to the back of the room because the gals won't give it up and pass it along. 

The other comment I hear and I said myself was....this ain't gonna fit my caboose.  The Gypsy Sit Upon is not intended to cover your whole bottom...one side really does fit all.  While you sit you are balancing on it...hence the strengthening your core muscles.  Since it doesn't cover the entire seat your tail bone gets a break....it relaxes...ahhhhh....I'm sitting on mine now :)

Here is one side of the Gypsy Sit Upon Cushion...

and the other side has more pronounced nubs.

If you are anything like me you are thinking....why would I want to sit on those raised nubs?  Once you sit on it you realize you don't really feel the nubs after a few minutes or so....the raised nubs allow for air flow and its good for blood circulation.  Posture is so important while sitting for long periods of time and hey...if you can strengthen your core muscles while sitting....that's a bonus!

I've decided to give the IHAN blog readers a special deal on the Gypsy Sit Upon Cushions for the next 24 hours.  I'm marking them down and not telling anyone but blog readers....so if you want one...CLICK HERE.....I'm not willing to sell them at this price to everyone...IHAN blog readers are very special folks! :)

Smiles,

Kelly