Road to Kansas

Next month, I’ll be visiting Olathe, Kansas, and giving a lecture and workshop at the Olathe Quilter’s Guild.  Since the workshop will be on making Pyramid Triangle quilts from Miniatures in Minutes, I thought it was time to make up some new designs for the Pyramid Triangle foundation.  After some thoroughly enjoyable playtime on EQ7, I have three new designs.  Here’s the first of them, which I’m calling Road to Kansas (because, hey, that’s where I’m going).  It measures 11 3/4" by 12 3/4".  The pieced foundation center is 7" by 8".

 

When I began making quilts, reproduction fabrics were my first love.  The Smithsonian had recently come out with their second fabric line, and I just fell in love.  What a wonderful introduction to the quilt world that was!  I still love reproduction fabrics, only now there are so many available, it’s enough to make my head spin.  One of the things I love about them is how many beautiful small print fabrics there are, just perfect for showing off in a miniature quilt!

So, I began by digging into my scrap bin of reproductions bits and pieces (ignoring, for the time being, the two dresser drawers full of reproduction fabrics).

 

Once again, I am loving how I can use the Fons and Porter Pyramid Triangle ruler to cut my patches.  The size  of the ruler is a little bigger than I’d like for when I’m cutting miniature patches, but that is more than made up for by the ease of using a ruler rather than a plastic template.  After cutting the patch out of the fabric rectangle (as directed in Miniatures in Minutes), I simply rotate the ruler to trim off the other points.  Loving that. 

Here it is after using the ruler to trim the rectangle patch to a triangle.

 

Then I pivot the ruler and trim off the next corner.

And pivot the ruler one last time to trim off the final corner.

Nice.

I received an email from my website where a quilter said she was using Aleene’s glue and was having trouble with glue gunking up her needle.  I sent a reply but it bounced back to me (for reasons unknown).  I thought I’d answer her question here and hope she is reading this. 

For one, I use Roxanne’s Glue-Baste-It.  I don’t know if that makes a difference, but, for the record, it’s the glue I use.  With the needle tip applicator, I am able to get very small dots of glue placed exactly where I want them.  And, definitely to the point, where I want them is in the seam allowance – that way I don’t sew through glue and my needle remains clean. 

I love the way this little quilt came out – must mean my trip to Kansas is going to be a good one!  You can find a pdf file with the Quilt Layout Diagram and patch requirements for this mini quilt on the Projects 2010 page of my website.

Meanwhile, that’s it for today.  Stay tuned for more Pyramid Triangle quilts on the way.  The next one, I think, is going to be Christmas themed.