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TGIFF: Easy Peasy Jelly Roll Quilt!

/ DoriCrafts / 6 Comments

Happy Friday!  I’m finally making a dent in my rather extensive WIP pile of quilts.  I finished my Jelly Roll quilt, and just love the Fall look of the colors.


I used a Moda jelly roll called Sunflower Song by Kansas Troubles Quilters.  I love these fabrics so much, I ordered a second jelly roll to use in a different quilt top!

 

IMG_5826.jpgThe tutorial I used came from (surprise!) Missouri Star Quilt Company.  Though Jenny Doan says you can complete this quilt top in 45 minutes to an hour, I confess it took me more like three hours.  With practice, I’m sure I can better that time!

Because this was a quick make, I made the choice to quilt it by stitching in the ditch with Isacord (which I LOVE), and instead of hand sewing the binding, I did it all by machine.  I also chose not to include any borders. This is the part of quilting I find so fascinating…the learning curve is HUGE, and finding my personal preferences is constant.  After finishing this quilt, I am convinced that hand binding is my thing.  I really enjoy the process and the look.  Live and learn!

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I used my binding tool to join the final seam of the binding.  It wasn’t as clean as I would like, so I’m thinking I have a bit more practice ahead of me in order to make my binding smooth and wrinkle free.

Have a wonderful weekend, and remember….be crafty, be creative!

Hugs,

DoriSignature

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Meal Prep Monday: Easy Peasy Salmon

/ Katie V. / Leave a comment

Lately, my cooking has been a bit stagnant. I’m not trying many new things and sticking only to items I know my family will eat so that we aren’t wasting food. We’ve recently overhauled our finances so I’m watching my pennies and trying to save in as many ways as I can, too.

Recently, salmon was on sale at our local store so I decided to switch up our nightly chicken or turkey dinner for a quick and easy salmon dish using a simple Italian seasoning mixture to add some flavor. Now this easy peasy recipe can work in a number of ways (on veggies, potatoes, other meats) so I always keep handy a few packets of this Italian dressing mix.

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It’s meant to be a packet of seasonings for a dressing but I’ve found it works great directly sprinkled onto whatever you are cooking. I sprinkle about half the packet onto my five fillets and cook with butter in my cast iron skillet. I save the second half for whatever veggie or side item I’ll cook with it.

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Once the salmon has been seared on each side for about 3-4 minutes to let the flavor get in there, I add in my veggies, like green beans here, and sprinkled the rest of the packet onto them. I make sure there is enough oil or butter so that the salmon doesn’t stick to the pan and to give a little moisture to the whole thing.

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Together, I let them sit and simmer on low until the green beans are just cooked enough but not soggy. I like them with a little crunch!

I serve this over rice and it makes a great meal for dinner and as leftovers for lunches. And it’s a nice change up from the plan ol’ chicken dinners we tend to eat.

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Life Strikes Again!

/ Katie V. / Leave a comment

Hey hobbyists and crafters! It’s been a while since our blog was updated with the latest and greatest news from yours truly. In all honesty, life has, once again, gotten in the way of all the fun things we like to do here at Hobbies Up To Here.

Between Dori’s travels to Ireland and with my work load at school plus job hunting cutting into my free time, not many hobbies have been kept up with and are sadly on the back burner as of this moment.

But fear not! We’re always around and ready to share when we can. We hope everyone is staying crafty and creative. And although we are away doing whatever is calling our attention at this moment, we’re still collecting and keeping our hobbies close at hand.

Dori is currently living it up on the Liscannor coast and sending us all some beautiful pictures of the scenery and of the local quilt shop goodies she’s picked up!

And while I’m not currently keeping up with the Splendid Sampler, I’m still printing and saving the patterns for each block so that I can come back to them when life settles.

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Hobbies Up To Here Episode #34

/ DoriCrafts / 3 Comments

Hey hobbyist and crafters! Grab your tea, your coffee, or wine (it’s 5pm somewhere!) and sit down for another episode.

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Our current works in progress are coming along.

  • Jake and I started his Darth Vader quilt. He did 99% of the sewing and I’m really proud of him!
  • My mom is moving along with her paper piecing class.

  • I finished my first 8 splendid sampler blocks and celebrated with a YouTube vlog!

Our topics today are some doozies!

Have you ever been SO creative, it scared you? Well, I had a moment like that this week when my brain took off on an idea for Alida’s Art with Fabric blog hop.

And my mom had an AH-HA moment this week about making mistakes and the personal feelings that come up when what’s done is “wrong”.

She’s enjoying a new book called Quilting by Hand by Jinny Beyer.

 

Quilt & Coffee Chat

This week we highlighted a few comments and replies from our fellow crafters and quilter’s.

  • My mom posed the question to everyone whether to machine or hand quilt an already started project.
  • A big big thank you to everyone from Jake and I for all the great comments and support for his quilt project. We are so very appreciative of all the positive feedback we received and I know it means a lot to Jake!

And lastly, we sampled some tea from Plum Deluxe. Thank you to Andy for considering us and our podcast as a place to share your wonderful community and tea products.

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Quilter Question: Hand Piecing or Machine?

/ DoriCrafts / 9 Comments

About seven years ago, while building her quilting fabric stash, Katie bought an unfinished Bear’s Claw quilt top on eBay.  It came to mind last night as I was falling asleep, because I was thinking about taking some hand piecing on my flight to Ireland next month.  I didn’t know if the finished squares were pieced by hand or machine….I’d have to wait until I woke up in the morning to find out.

I poured my first cup of coffee and pulled out the four bags that held the quilt top pieces in various stages of completion.  There are three completed blocks;  one almost done; lots of half square triangles, sashing and squares; and some triangles that have been traced on squares of fabric, waiting to be cut out.

  

I immediately picked up the finished squares to see if they had been pieced by hand, or by machine.  Obviously, they had been done by machine.

Here’s my question for you all….if I wanted to tackle this quilt top (with Katie’s permission, of course!), should I continue to piece this quilt by machine?  Or would you switch it up and hand stitch the rest of it?

I realize that even if I use my machine, I run the risk of my blocks looking a bit different simply because I’m not the original quilter.  Would you agree?

Thank you in advance for your advice!

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WIP Wednesday: Jelly Roll Quilt

/ DoriCrafts / 7 Comments

I needed a quick and satisfying project to get me back in the swing of creating yesterday.   I quickly went through my jelly roll drawer, and searched for the fabric that made my heart race the most.

I kept coming back to this Moda jelly roll called Sunflower Song.  Yup!  That was it! Civil War type prints in rich browns, greens, cream prints, blues and deep reds, was the ticket! 

I rewatched Missouri Star Quilt Co.’s YouTube tutorial Jelly roll race and then sat down at my machine and started stitching.  It took me more than the hour the video claimed it would take (I’m persnickety), but the basic top is done!  Yay!  I’m considering adding one border before I sandwich it and quilt it.

 I also saw the opportunity to take this finished top and cut it up into a completely different design if I wanted to take it further.  I could use my 60 degree equilateral triangle ruler (demonstrated here) or one of Crafty Gemini’s projects using her 10″ slicer ruler found in her YouTube tutorial here.  So many ideas!

For now, I’m itching to finish this simple quilt!  I’m deciding if I want to do a fun over-all free motion design, or a quick and easy stitch-in-the-ditch with my walking foot.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

DoriSignature
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QuiltCon: Meeting Jenny Doan

/ DoriCrafts / 6 Comments

I’m not one to just “meet” someone.  I experience them, and allow them the opportunity to do the same with me, if they so wish.  Such was the case with Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company.

 Jenny, along with her husband Ron, were at the Sizzix booth at QuiltCon in Pasadena this weekend.  Though I don’t consider myself a “fangirl” type of person, I definitely felt my heart skip a whole lotta beats when I spied her gentle face and open smile.  You see, along with my daughter Katie, I see Jenny as a savior of sorts…If you’ve listened to our podcasts, you know that a year ago, I was simply getting through my days sitting, eating and watching television.   Though a quiet and thoughtful existence, I didn’t recognize that I was, in fact, in a severe depression.

At that time, Katie invited me to podcast with her on one of our mutual interests, books.  I accepted, and we found that we enjoyed the process, as well as the gift of spending time together in our mutual world of crafting, hobbies and handwork.

Hobbies Up To Here was born in April, 2015, from that simple invitation.

Katie’s love for quilting sparked an old flame that was still burning quietly inside me.  I had no idea where to start cultivating the skills I would need to begin creating again.  I turned to YouTube, typing in “quilting” and waited hopefully for instructional videos to pop up on my screen.

Enter Jenny Doan, and her fun, inspiring and anyone-can-do-this tutorials!

I had never heard of precuts, and that first video used a “layer cake”.  With a few cuts and a huge amount of enthusiastic, happy instruction, Jenny showed me how I could make a quilt in very little time at all.  I was HOOKED!  From that first video called Double Slice Layer Cake Tutorial, I actually made my first quilted quilt (I had made tie quilts in the 80’s) for my son Mike’s 30th birthday.  Whoo hoo!

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So, when I got the chance to meet her,  I folded her up in a hug, and whispered in her ear.

“You saved my life.”

I meant every word.

Now, she could have patted me on the head, said gee that’s nice, and sent me on my way.  She stopped her world and took the time to engage me, to share with me, to connect with me and to thank me.  It must have been nice to hear that she had made a difference in my life, not just as a quilter, but as a human being.  Our moment was touching and life affirming.  When Katie joined us a few minutes later, she took one look at me and quipped, “Are you crying???  Geez Mom, I can’t take you anywhere!”  Jenny and I simply laughed, hugged again, and I set her free to see to her other admirers.

You see?  There’s a difference between meeting someone, and experiencing them; I received a genuine gift on Friday, that, I hope, cultivated a lasting memory between the two of us.  Even if it’s only one moment…being present, awake and aware, can be magical.

It was for me.

Love,

DoriSignature

 

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