Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Foodie Blog Hop - My Day!


Welcome blog hoppers!  I am thrilled to be participating in a blog hop again after 3 years, oh holy cow that went by quickly.  Thank you so much Carla for letting me join in again!

I absolutely love to quilt but when I'm not quilting, I am in the kitchen baking and occasionally cooking too.

John and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary by cooking together this year, it was great!


This last weekend I made some specially decorated sugar cookies for my aunt's bridal shower, they were Strawberry Lemonade flavored with lemon royal icing and were a big hit.  I absolutely love the joy I get from seeing people enjoy eating something I have made.



I also really love aprons, and as you can see I have a couple here:


L to R: Easter apron from mom, houndstooth apron I made in high school home ec 18 years ago, 2 Pampered Chef aprons I earned when I was a consultant, summer/fall double sided apron mom made me, and Christmas/blue backed apron Grandma Linda made me.  I rotate through them all throughout the year!

Then I came across this incredible kitchen-themed fabric at our LQS about a month ago (Kiss the Cook by Michael Miller) and I just knew it would be perfect to make another apron to add to my collection, and I am really excited with how it turned out!  I love that it's double sided too.

apron, quilted apron
I made my apron as a large nine-patch made with 10" squares, then changed my mind and cut the side squares in half to make it closer to the usual apron shape.  We made a similar one for my mom a few years ago but with 9" squares but left the pieces whole and she loves how it wraps around her. The pieced blocks I used are Colored Wheel blocks from the Quilter's Cache website.

If you've never made an apron before, there are a couple ways to go about it.  The method I used for this one creates a double-sided apron, which you CAN add pockets to before sewing the two sides together, but I completely forgot on this one.  I can always add some after the fact if I decide I need to, but I rarely use them.  Here are some photos of me pinning the pieces together before sewing:

Remember to pin the ends of your apron strings to the center before trying to sew around the edges!  I also baste the apron strings in place by sewing back and forth across the strings 2-3 times inside the 1/4" seam allowance.


I found that by taping my solid piece of fabric to my cutting table I eliminated shift while I was pinning them together, which was amazing for when I went to sew around the outside edges.  And I pinned about 3/4" in from the edges so I could leave the pins in until I was finished sewing.  Then just turn it inside out and topstitch 1/8" around the outside edge to close the hole you turn through and give it that finishing touch!

baker offering cookies in a blue apron
Cookies anyone?

I had a few scraps leftover from piecing my blocks for the apron so I also put together a cute little hotpad!  I may have a hard time using it though, it's so pretty...

Thomas kept a watchful eye over all the activity until I took notice of him, then he fell asleep.  He also enjoys keeping tabs as we cook, you know, in case wayward chicken pieces find there way into his mouth.

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I hope you feel inspired to go out and make yourself a new happy apron to wear in the kitchen while creating goodness to share with others!

Please be sure to visit the other bloggers posting today and see my previous post for the list of the whole week's worth of bloggers.

Thursday, May 26th


Have a wonderful day!
Brandy Pettit blog signature


Friday, March 25, 2022

Hello again!

Well hello quilt blog world!

I was so surprised to see I haven't posted in such a long time, but I guess it makes sense because I have been quite busy!  I mean, the last couple years have been pretty intense for everyone but on top of a pandemic happening I was also working away on my longarm quilting.  I have a few photos for your perusal today, mostly wanted to pop by and say "hey" and "promise I'm still alive"! ;)


Brandy at her Handi Quilter Infinity with ProStitcher  longarm
I went full time into longarm quilting January 2022!  I just love all the fun quilts I get through my door, check out these pretties:

Ansley Park e2e example on baby quilt

Blue vintage quilt with baptist fan quilting

example of dinosaur tracks e2e quilting

Detail shot of Dream Big panel with custom feather quilting

custom graffiti quilting on marine vinyl

Rapunzel e2e quilting on rainbow quilt

Puzzle Time e2e quilting on Rudy's Puzzle quilt

Blue Spool Sewing Room tote bag
I even had tote bags made!

Brandy and John at the arcade in Lincoln City
John and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary last year at Lincoln City.  It was super fun and we look forward to going again.

Brandy and John at the beach
The beach is a beautiful place to be!

Thomas and Belle helping pick out fabric
Thomas and Belle are still doing wonderful in their Quilt Inspector jobs.

I hope you are all staying happy and healthy and getting a ton of quilting done!  Hey, if you need anything longarm quilted, let me know.  I have an average 2-week turnaround and would love to help you finish your quilts!

~Brandy


Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Stitch It and Gift It Blog Hop - Hotpads


https://createinthesticks.blogspot.com/2019/11/its-day-1-of-stitch-it-and-gift-it-blog.html

Hello and welcome to my stop on the Stitch It and Gift It Blog Hop!  I am so excited to see all the great ideas that everyone is sharing with us this week, and I hope you enjoy seeing my projects.  Thank you Carla for the opportunity to participate!  I encourage you all to visit Carla's website by clicking on the image above, and enter into the drawing for a gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop and be sure to visit the others today too!

Wednesday, November 13th


I created/finished up a couple hotpads that will be gifted on Christmas Eve to an unknown recipient.  We do a form of White Elephant gift exchange in our family, the only rule for the item is the item can't cost more than $15.  So I am pairing my two potholders with a big bag of monster cookies and apparently my sister has already decided she will fight for these.  She actually tried to sneak one out of the room earlier this week, LOL!

This hotpad was actually a 6 year old UFO!  It is also the very first thing I ever quilted feathers on, and it was quilted on my Bernina.


This block was really fun to make, so much so that I actually made 2 blocks, but one is going into a future Christmas sampler.  (I like to make sample blocks with Christmas fabric when testing a block, eventually I will have a king size Christmas quilt!)  This is also the first time I have purchased a book and actually made a block out of it!  I had pre-ordered Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage 2 from Fat Quarter Shop earlier this year because I felt like I would definitely use it, and see, I was right.


The block in the book is the Evening Star, isn't just amazing how the colors make a block so different?  Also, look at how many other blocks I have marked in here, they will all make awesome potholders...



Isn't this little tag super cute?  One of our LQS (Stash of Walla Walla) has them and I just love the added little sentiment!  Also, I obviously was not going to hand stitch the binding down on this LOL.

You might notice how puffy my hotpad is, I like to use 2 layers of Insulbrite, or one layer of Insulbrite and a layer of cotton or 80/20, which ever is more available at the moment.  I also find that I prefer to use the couple of 12 inch hotpads that are in my kitchen drawer over the smaller ones since most of my pans are pretty large, so I figure the bakers in my family will also enjoy larger ones.  Or, you know, my sister will, since apparently she is willing to take on the family for these... (I am making extras for her Christmas stocking so she will have some no matter what).

 Thomas says to remind you how wonderful and comfy pillows are too. (Football block from Cluck Cluck Sew's Touchdown pattern.)

Belle learned the beauty of a tied fleece blanket this last weekend, so quick and cozy!

And finally I leave you with a little parcel that I am gifting to my longarm quilting clients this year.  I am so thankful for the people who are supporting my business (Blue Spool Sewing Room) and look forward to giving them their little gifts!  I will share later what I am gifting them, it's not a sewn item and it's a surprise.   But I am making the bags to put their gift into!  Selina shared some cute bag ideas on Monday, in case you missed them definitely go check her's out.

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you all have a wonderful time exploring all these great gift ideas and have fun making gifts for the holidays!

~Brandy

🎁Stitch It & Gift It🎁 Blog Hop Schedule

Monday, November 11th



Tuesday, November 12th

Wednesday, November 13th



Thursday, November 14th


Friday, November 15th

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

🌟 My Favorite Quilt Block 🌟 Blog Hop

Hello everyone!  Welcome to my stop on the My Favorite Quilt Block Blog Hop hosted by Carla at Creatin' In the Sticks.  Thank you so much Carla for letting me participate in this hop!  I hope you all will be sure to visit Carla's blog to enter the drawing she has going after you have visited and commented on the blogs today!



I have had a lot of fun checking out everyone's favorite blocks the past couple days, and no surprise, there have been a lot of star blocks.  I am here to share even more with you!

I am highly attracted to all the star blocks, but really love Lonestar quilts.  I looked the block up in Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns (1993) and it says the name Lone Star first appeared in the Ladies Art Company catalog sometime between 1028 and 1934, as well as in patterns from Ruby McKim and Carlie Sexton in that same time period.  It's quite fun to look through this book and see that the Lone Star name was used for 8 blocks that all look very different from what I associate lonestar with!

It is no joke when I say I am very attracted to this block.  I even use it as part of my business logo!  (For those of you who are new to me, I am a longarm quilter in Walla Walla, WA.)


The logo was inspired by the first lonestar I made, which was for the Picnic Blog Hop a number of years ago.  John (my husband) said he felt I had truely become a quilter after I finished that quilt, and thus felt it is a good representation of me and my business.  Isn't that sweet?  Here is my patriotic lonestar with a denim star backing:


I made a flannel baby quilt for a family friend a few years ago:

This is closer to a Lemoyne Star but it's so similar that I am including it; a tree skirt that I made for my Aunt Carolyn:

Just last year I made this beach quilt:

I recently finished this denim backing for my sister's quilt, only to realize I made the top entirely too small!  So, borders will be happening soon... lol!

The Christmas runner is one I began last year, it's a work in progress.  The tiny blue and white star will become the centernof a spool block for a spool quilt that I have in progress, it's so cute!  The diamonds are about 1/2" big.  And the pretty block behind them all is the barn quilt I painted this summer!  I hosted a class for my guild and we had a lot of fun painting our favorite blocks to hang on our houses.  I believe one even was hung on a barn!

In case anyone is wondering, yes, I y-seam all those corners.  It was one of the first techniques I mastered when I started quilting about 7 years ago, and I have since realized I prefer less seams if at all possible.  We will see how long that lasts!

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you will visit my fellow bloggers today and please be sure to leave some comment love!  I would like to know, have you made a lonestar quilt?  If so, what colors?  I am always on the lookout for more star goodness in my life!

Thursday, September 12th

Websterquilt
Cynthia's Creating Ark
Nutz 4 Redwork
Quiltsbyjoanne
Ms P Designs USA
Pampered Pettit
Hill Valley Quilter

Have a wonderful day!
~Brandy

Thomas helped me get our newest addition to the sewing machine family in place this last weekend.  This is my great-great-grandmother's machine, a White treadle that I was told was used to make my great-grandma's diapers.  Seems likely, as the patents listed on the machine range from 1877-1890 and Great-Grandma turned 95 this year... I feel quite fortunate that Grandma said I was welcome to have it as I was the only one to recognize what it was!