How Do You Do That Vivian? Vol. 4

This is a little tutorial on how I make a snowflake. But first, since we're talking about winter weather...

The other day here in Orange County, we had a sudden showering of hail.

You see our winters are very mild...I've even have some of my vegetable garden still!

Yes, that's right, hail. While the rest of the country has snow in the winter, we have pretty mild weather here...except for occasional showers. Rarely do we get hail. The Purse Dog didn't like it one bit!

"Let me it!"

I've lived in Orange County since I was 7. Winters with snow and freezing temperatures in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania and Roswell, New Mexico (the two places I lived before I was 7) are a vague memory to me. I love the winters here. Like The Purse Dog, I love mild temperatures, sunshine, and an occasional shower.

Many years ago, I was in Bethesda, Maryland with my sister. She was receiving treatments there for cancer at NCI. One evening during the fall, I was sitting in my sister's hospital room. It had been raining most of the day. Suddenly I heard what sounded like little pellets hitting the window. I went over to look out and see what this strange sound was. It was little ice pellets hitting the window. I had never seen or heard anything like it before.

I asked one of the nurses, "What is this?"

She answered, "Oh, that's sleet."
I said, "Oh my, so this is sleet! I've heard of sleet. I think I heard about it on the Weather Channel once."

She smiled, "You're not from around here, are you?"

I think she was really saying, "What planet are you from?"

I told her I lived in southern California, not far from Disneyland, and that I had never seen sleet before. She just smiled and left the room. I'm sure she went over to the nurses station and told them about me. They probably had a good laugh.

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Now I don't know how to quilt sleet, but I can quilt a snowflake. Let's get on with the tutorial, shall we?

Machine quilting numerous Christmas and winter quilts, I was always looking for a nice snowflake pattern. I could never find one I liked, so I made this one up:

First you draw lines like this. I use that cheap chalk I told you about before.
Then you quilt these shapes. They kind of look like holly leaves. You quilt them in opposite corners. Use those chalk lines for reference points.
You need to quilt 4 of them. Next you quilt up about two-thirds of the way up, stop briefly, and then come back down.
You make these lines with little notches you see below. You make 4 of the, using those chalk lines for reference.
Here it is all finished. See how easy!
Lastly, you wipe away the chalk lines with a microfiber cloth--like I told you before.
And here's a variation below of that snowflake. I quilted it on a scrap cloth in variegated thread. It's essentially the same designs, but at a different angle. Why not add some loops and "sparkles" too.
I hope this tutorial made sense. I do apologize for sharing a "winter" design here in February. Maybe where you live it's still snowing. Or maybe it will help you in the next holiday season!

The Purse Dog and I need to get back to work! I've got tons of quilts to do and she needs to finish her nap!

How Do You Do That, Vivian? Vol. 3

Before I get to my little tutorial, please hop over to Daughter #2's blog for her give-away. Click here: Check out Scentsy. I love, love it! I'll soon have a warmer for every room in my house! It's a scent system that is wickless, meaning that they do not use flames, wicks, or smoke. Much safer than candles in a quilt studio! And the scents are awesome! Check it out today!

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Now, I got an email requesting how I do this swirly, curly thing I do on many of my quilts. Here's how I did it on the Dazzling Dogs quilt I just finished. I hope this helps! It's super easy. First you make a little curl, going one direction. Below I curled in toward the left.

Once your curl is made, then go the opposite direction. This one I curled in towards the right.You continue doing this making lots of curls and swirls. I kept the size of these curls pretty consistant. On some quilts I go a little crazy and make large and small, alternating the sizes.

This is a simple, yet pretty, design that can be used on many quilts. I quilted it in a 'sky' once, and a friend said it looked like the Santa Ana Winds. (hot, strong winds we get from time to time here in Orange County. They caused the fires we had here last November!)

Tip : This design looks awesome in variegated thread, too!

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I also receive emails asking me what kind of machine I use. It's a Gammill Classic I purchased from Cranberry Quiltworks in 2000. It's a basic model, without all the bells and whistles, but I love it! I've been quilting with it, probably daily, for 8 years! Newer models have stitch regulators, and even computers! So mine's practically an antique now. But I love the feel of this machine, so why change?

Hey what's on the TV, there?

I usually quilt with the TV on, with movies and shows that I don't have to really concentrate on.

Hey, isn't that Napolean Dynamite?

Please excuse this photo of my messy quilt studio.

Hey, is that a picture of Sting on the wall?

Of course! A quilter needs a little eye candy to look at now and then!

Now back to work, Vivian!

How Do You Do That, Vivian? Vol. 2

What was that thing I did on the Man's Quilt? Would you like to know? What's the Man's Quilt? Read about it here: "You Can Tell A Lot About A Man..."

Every now and then I take pictures of some of the techniques I teach in my freemotion machine quilting classes. Read about the last one I shared here: "How Do You Do That, Vivian?"

So, here's another fun technique:

It's similar to the Terry Twist, developed by Sally Terry, but not exactly. It's kind of my own style of it. Another machine quilter showed me her version of it once and now I call mine Vivian's "faux" Terry Twist. As I tell my freemotion machine quilting students, try to develop your own style. Remember my "faux" McTavishing? How about my "faux" trapunto? Is Vivian Love "faux" real???

Ok, here you go...it's super easy...just do this:

Step One:

Step Two:

Step Three:

Step Four:

See, What'd I tell you? Easy! Try in sometime! Have a great day, blogging friends!

How Do You Do That, Vivian?

Here's a quilt I worked on recently. There's a design in there that I do frequently. Here's how to do it.
It's super easy. First you make a little curl going in one direction. Check it out below:

Then make another one going the other direction.

Then make a third one in the opposite direction of the one you last did. You should have 3 now.

Then you go back and echo the 3 curls you just did. See below:

Then you do it all over again. I know, I know, you look at what I did and you can see that it's not what I do exactly everytime. Otherwise, it wouldn't be freehand, which is what I love to do. I just try to keep it pretty consistant. Eight years of machine quilting and teaching and I never get tired of this freehand design!

Also, in order to give more dimention to this quilt, the woman who made the top added some batting as she embroidered the flowers. See, look here underneath as I'm working on it.

There you have it! Now, you try...Have a great day.

The "Purse Dog" Wants to Share

The Purse Dog wants to share how to make her pretty fleece blanket with a longarm quilting machine: (Purse Dog's owner sews with a Gammill Classic.)

Needed: 2-1/2 yds each of 60'' wide premium anti-pill fleece in coordinating colors that you like. (no batting necessary for this project.) The "Purse Dog" likes this bright green fleece for the back and a cute Tinkerbell fleece for the top (available at The Fleece Lady. )

1. Rack up both panels of fabric horizontally, pinning the selvage edge top and bottom. This will minimize stretching...although you must still be careful while sewing so the fleece doesn't stretch too much.

2. Sew a horizontal line about 2 inches down from the top. If you have a 'horizontal channel lock'...that works best for this step.

3. Next sew a vertical line 2 inches from the left side about 12 inches down or so.

4. Do some free motions designs of your choice throughout the blanket, being careful not to stretch the fleece. The Purse Dog's owner chose some swirls, leaves and then just sewed around the pretty designs of the fleece print.

5. Sew another vertical line 2 inches from the edge on the right side. Only go about 12 inches down or so. (Note: The Purse Dog's owner doesn't have a vertical channel lock like some longarms have. She uses a ruler to help guide her.)

6. Keep quilting along until it's done. Continue sewing your vertical lines on the left and right as you go. Cute fleece print, don't you think? The Purse Dog thinks so!

7. Now it's all done and before you get to the bottom, just sew a horizontal line about 2 inches from the bottom edge.

8. Next take the fleece blanket off your longarm and trim all edges 2 inches all around, using your horizontal and vertical lines as a guide.

9. Cut a square in each corner.

10. Lastly, cut the fringes about in inch apart.

(The Purse Dog's owner just 'eyeballs' it, and she is very careful not to cut in too far. )

And here's the Purse Dog's fleece blanket. She loves it! Very comfy!

And her owner finished it in about 2 hours...start to finish...no batting...no binding....all done! (She doesn't even tie the fringe. She thinks it looks nice just the way it is.) Last Christmas the Purse Dog's owner made over 30 of these for her customers, friends and family. Fun and easy! Check out some of the others she has done below.

The Purse Dog's owner welcomes all questions and comments. Thanks for stopping by!