The Classroom has Been Busy

We had another full day class this week with Pat Speth teaching her Shaded Four Patch Workshop here at our shop.  We had a great group of ladies come learn some new tips and techniques, and sew all day. 

Pat has a great blog where she shares blocks and units made using 5 inch squares ~ definitely worth checking out!  I'll be cutting a lot of my scraps into 5 inch squares now :) 

Another Row is Up!

The next Row is up for the Round Robin Winter Wonderland Sew-Along!  Hop on over and check it out ~ it's a cute Row with Gift Boxes designed by Clover and Violet.  And on the Flickr Group, some of the Tree Rows that I designed are starting to appear :)

It's fun to see what everyone is making as they sew up their rows, but it's hard for me to think about a Winter Wonderland when we've had such a nice Spring here.  It's been cool, so my Spring blooms have stuck around and really made a pretty show.

 Even my pansies are still going strong, usually they're about finished by now.
 

 And the roses are all popping now too, so while you're working on your Winter Wonderland Rows...

...Don't forget to take the time to smell a rose :) 

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

My Row for the Winter Wonderland Sew-Along

Well I'm hopping around Blogland again, this time with the Round Robin Winter Wonderland Sew-Along being hosted by Becky at Patchwork Posse!

 This is my block...

 ...put a bunch of them together...

...And you get my Row ~ Walking in a Winter Wonderland Forest!  ...Yes, it's another tree row, that's what I get for planning too far ahead ~ but it's ok, our trees are a little different from each other, yet coordinate, and remember you can place your rows in any order on your quilt :) 

Check out Patchwork Posse's Blog Post today to download the pdf with instructions and paper piecing templates for my row.  And I'll be uploading it to the Free Pattern Page at my Spring Water Designs Website soon :)

Click the Sew-A-Long Link for a list of all the designers and see the rows that have be made so far, and what's still to come!

And there's a Flickr Group to see some of the different variations of the rows that are being sewn.  Some folks are starting to sew rows together and they're looking great!

Enjoy the day!

~ Dawn

My Turn!

I was invited to participate in the My Favorite Block Quilt Along hosted by Kim at Persimon Dreams Blog, and today is my turn! (I also have a little feature over on Kim's blog today, so check it out)  There are some very fun and creative block tutorials that have already been shared by other designers, and more are in the works for upcoming weeks.  

Another Kim of Fabric Fascination blog is the other designer for this week, and on Tuesday she shared her adorable Pincushion and Dancing Spools block that you won't want to miss :)

Here is my block ~ It's called Dancing Diamond block.  I've had a thing for Orange and Pink combinations lately! You can click Here to download a free pdf file of the block tutorial. 

One of the neat things about this Quilt Along, is that all the designers are including cutting instructions to make a 12" finished block and/or a 6" finished block, so you can make a sampler quilt with all the blocks in different sizes if you want!

Here's a quick mock-up of how 16 blocks look laid out in four rows of four blocks. When many blocks are put together the Light Pink and Solid Orange fabrics give the appearance of forming lines across the quilt :)

There's a Flickr Group too where you can get a ton of ideas from other folks' blocks, so have fun :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn 

My Favorite Block Quilt Along

Yesterday was Kim's turn of Fabric Fascination blog ~ She shared her adorable Pincushion and Dancing Spools block

You can check out all the designer's blocks at My Favorite Block Quilt Along .  Kim over at Persimon Dreams blog has done a fantastic job pulling it all together!  You can check out the Flickr Group too :)

...stop back here for my block tomorrow!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn


 

A Little Inspiration and a Blog Hop!

So this weekend I've been enjoying my new book, Baltimore Garden Quilt, reading it from cover to cover!  It's written by my Baltimore Applique Society friend, Barbara Burnham, and has full color pictures of her beautiful reproduction Baltimore Garden quilt, and the antique quilt from 1848 that inspired it.
I love that she includes full color tutorial pictures of many techniques she used in making the quilt!

...And the book comes with a CD of full size patterns!  I've already picked out the first blocks that I'm going to make from this book, I just need to figure out a color scheme and pull some fabrics :)

...And this weekend I cut up this old shrunken wool sweater that I had, and played with it and some other wool scraps.  Come back later this week, and I'll show you what I'm doing with it :)

It'll be part of my blog post for the Girls in the Garden Blog Hop that I'm doing with Pat Sloan and some other blog friends!  Each designer will be using some of Pat's new patterns from her Girls in the Garden series and making it their own.  I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with from the same patterns!

Here's the line up for the Blog Hop:
Tues Feb 21 Michele of Quilting Gallery http://quiltinggallery.com/
Wed Feb 22 Heather of Olive and Ollie http://www.oliveandollie.com/
***Thurs Feb 23 Me!! Dawn of Spring Water Designs http://springwaterdesigns.blogspot.com/
Fri Feb 24 Amy of Amy's Creative Side http://amyscreativeside.com/
Sat Feb 25 Heather of a La Mode Fabric http://alamodefabric.blogspot.com/

Check out Pat's blog each day for her take on how she designed the Girls in the Garden patterns http://blog.patsloan.com

And of course there will be prizes!  Check out the Fat Quarter Shops kick off post for today and join in on the fun!  http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com/

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Last Day of the Blog Hop ~ And It's Our Day!!!

All week we’ve been sharing about the Sullivan’s Cutting Edge Ruler, and hopping around to other fun blogs for cool tidbits and give aways…and today is our day here at Spring Water Designs!  Thanks to Pat Sloan for hosting this hop and inviting us to participate :) First, we wanted to share our favorite Sullivan’s rulers:

Heather’s favorite feature of the Sullivan’s Ruler is the frosted non-skid back.  Besides that, she likes the 6-1/2” x 12-1/2” size because she travels with her projects and it fits really well in a tote bag, and as you can see in the above picture mine stands up great in my rolling cart with my small mat.

My favorite feature of the Sullivan's ruler is of course the diamond incrusted cutting edge (which does seem to work at removing those annoying small burrs on the rotary blade that causes little individual threads to go un-cut periodically), thus extending the life of the blade.  I have several of these rulers, but my favorite is the little 4-1/2" x 8-1/2" rectangle that fits perfectly in my hand piecing travel clutch that I carry along everywhere.  It's small enough for easy travel, but large enough to work with!

Look for the Sullivan's Cutting Edge rulers at your local quilt shop, Joann's, or you can find them in my Web Store.  (Click Show All to see ones that we have in stock.)

So as part of the blog hop we were asked to share a favorite recipe, and late September in the Stewart house means Football Seaso...and Football season in our house means Taco Soup!  Mmm...Taco Soup is one of my favorite things about football :)  It's quick and easy ~ the perfect recipe for a quilter!

Click Here and scroll to the bottom of the page for our Taco Soup recipe :)

And just for fun, Pat asked us to answer a few random question:

Question 1. If I take a look inside your refrigerator what would I find?

...Oh my.  Well you will always find three types of Pepsi (I have a son who like regular Pepsi, Hubby likes Diet Cherry, and I like Caffine Free), Gaterade (son, remember), and my new thing is Bread Starter that I got from a friend...Any you'll usually find some beer and leftover pizza. 

And you'll always find chocolate in our butter compartment :)

Question 2. What is your favorite TV show of All Time and why?  

Heather’s favorite show of forever is X-files because she loves anything creepy, and she watched this show from it’s inception back in 1993.

My favorite show is NCIS because I like crime dramas…and Michael Weatherly…enough said.

 

Question 3. If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to see play the lead role as you? 

Ok, this one made us laugh outloud!  Heather picked Jewel Staite (Kaylee from Firefly) just because she likes her.  I came up with Mariska Hargitay from Law & Order SVU, because I think she's a cool chick, and hey...we're dreaming here right!  

 

 Ok, now that we've dispensed with the silliness, let's get down to the Nitty Gritty!  Leave a comment here on this post (tell us what's in your fridge right now), for a chance to win a Sullivan's Cutting Edge Ruler of your choice ~ Yes you get to pick the size that you want! ...And if you've gotten through to the end of this ridiculously long blog post, you deserve that!  We'll pick one random winner on Monday morning.  

 

Hop on over to Emily Cier http://carolinapatchworks.com/blog who is the other featured blogger of the day!  And go back and read all of the bloggers from earlier this week and make sure you comment!  

Sept 27 (tues) Rachel    http://www.psiquilt.com/ Allison   http://www.cluckclucksew.com Sept 28 (wed) Erin's http://erinrussek.typepad.com/one-piece-at-a-time/ Victoria http://bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com/ Sept 29 (thurs)  LizzieB Liz and Beth http://dreamlaughcreate.blogspot.com/ Sarah  http://www.thelastpiece.net/ Sept 30 (fri) Me http://springwaterdesigns.blogspot.com/ Emily http://carolinapatchworks.com/blog/

Oct 1 (Sat) – http://blog.patsloan.com   

If you're new to our blog, you can scroll back to earlier posts this week for other tips and information on the Cutting Edge rulers, and don't forget our Quick Mystery BOM Runner.  You can click Here for the post with information, and get the Free pattern download ~ we just started with Block One this month, so it's not too late to jump in.  But hurry, Block Two comes out on October 7th, and it only goes for three months, so you'll have a finished table runner in time for the holidays!

And don't forget to upload your Block One blocks to our Flickr Group, or email them to me ~ we want to see the different colors everyone uses!

Enjoy the day! ~ Dawn

Hoppin Right Along

We're hoppin' right along to Day 3 of the Sullivan's Cutting Edge Ruler Blog Hop! 

Another Sullivan's ruler that I have in my repertoire is the 16-1/2" square.  I love this one ~ I got it especially for trimming and squaring my Baltimore Album Blocks :)
 

16-1/2" is a nice size for a large variety of blocks (and a surprisingly hard ruler size to find).  Trimming and squaring is so easy with the clear lines on this ruler, and the non-skid frosted back helps to keep it from shifting.

All trimmed and squared and ready to be pieced in to my future Baltimore Album quilt...someday ~ Yes, I'm optimistic :)

Now Hop on over to the featured blogs for Day 3:  Liz & Beth Hawkins, and Sarah Fielke and leave a comment to be included in their give aways!  And of course, our hostess Pat Sloan's Blog :)
Here is the schedule of all the blogs ~ don't forget to stop back again for my day tomorrow!!

Tuesday:

Pat Sloan http://blog.patsloan.com

Rachel Griffith http://psiquilt.com

Allison Harris http://www.cluckclucksew.com

Wednesday:

Erin Russek http://erinrussek.typepad.com/one-piece-at-a-time

Victoria Findlay Wolfe http://bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com

Thursday:

Liz & Beth Hawkins http://dreamlaughcreate.blogspot.com

Sarah Fielke  http://www.thelastpiece.net/

Friday:

Emily Cier http://carolinapatchworks.com/blog

...And Me http://springwaterdesigns.blogspot.com

Look for Sullivan's Cutting Edge Rulers at your local quilt shop, or you can find them in our Web Store (click View All to see all the sizes that we have in stock).

Enjoy the day!

~ Dawn

Blog Hoppin Day 2!

Welcome to Day 2 of the Cutting Edge Ruler Blog Hop!  How about a little tip of the day:

I think the most versatile size of all the rulers in the Sullivans collection is the 6-1/2" x 24-1/2" ruler ~ especially if you'll be cutting yardage.  But if you're traveling and want the ease of the shorter 6-1/2" x 12-1/2" ruler (or maybe you're a beginner and only have the one 12-1/2" long ruler), there is still a way to cut the full width of fabric yardage very easily.

1. Lay your fabric out in front of you with the selvages together, and away from you, and the fold  towards you.  

2. Then fold the fabric again (taking the fold up 1" shy of the selvages).  Now your fabric is four layers thick.  Make sure that both of the folds, and the selvages all line up with lines on your cutting mat to ensure that everything is straight. 

3. Now you can lay your 12-1/2" long ruler across the width of fabric and cut!  Trim a small amount (to the first line on the cutting mat) off of the left side to square everything up and give you a fresh edge to cut from ~ and you're ready to go!

Now Hop on over to the featured blogs for today: Erin of One Piece at a Time, and Victoria of Bumblebeans and leave a comment to be included in their give aways!  And make sure you check out Pat Sloan's Blog as she just may have some hostess goodies there!
Here is the schedule of all the blogs ~ don't forget to stop back again tomorrow, and come back for my day on Friday!!

Tuesday:

Pat Sloan http://blog.patsloan.com

Rachel Griffith http://psiquilt.com

Allison Harris http://www.cluckclucksew.com

Wednesday:

Erin Russek http://erinrussek.typepad.com/one-piece-at-a-time

Victoria Findlay Wolfe http://bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com

Thursday:

Liz & Beth Hawkins http://dreamlaughcreate.blogspot.com

Sarah Fielke  http://www.thelastpiece.net/

Friday:

Emily Cier http://carolinapatchworks.com/blog

...And Me http://springwaterdesigns.blogspot.com

Look for Sullivan's Cutting Edge Rulers at your local quilt shop, or you can find them in our Web Store (click View All to see all the sizes that we have in stock).

Enjoy the day!

~ Dawn

Trying Out a New Ruler

Day 1 is here for the Sullivan's Cutting Edge Ruler Blog Hop!  Every day there will be two Bloggers who will share about their experiences with the rulers, some fun stuff about themselves, a recipe for you, and of course some free give aways!

Heather came over and spent a day in my sewing room, and wanted to try out these new rulers that she's been hearing so much about for herself.  This one is now hers :)

As a beginning quilter, her favorite feature of the ruler was the non-skid frosting, even more than the diamond incrusted edge that sharpens your rotary blades as you cut ~ although that may be because I provide her with the rotary blades :)  She did have to get used to the extra half inch on the edge of the ruler (this one is 6-1/2" x 12-1/2"), but once she adjusted to that, she really liked that better than her old 6" wide ruler.

These are the fabrics that Heather cut for her Quick Mystery Block of the Month Runner ~ she just couldn't resist jumping in!  I'll show you her progress on the Block One later in the week. 

Click on the above Button for more information and the free pattern for the Spring Water Designs  Quick Mystery BOM Runner, and sew along with us!

Look for Sullivan's Cutting Edge Rulers at your local quilt shop, or you can find them in our Web Store (click View All to see all the sizes that we have in stock).

Hop on over to today's two Bloggers for the Sullivan's Cutting Edge Ruler Hop, and leave a comment to get in on the give aways!
Rachel Griffith http://psiquilt.com
Allison Harris http://cluckclucksew.com

And don't forget our Blog Hop Hostest with the Mostest, Pat Sloan who is always full of fun surprises!
http://blog.patsloan.com

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Have You Seen These Yet?

Have you seen these rulers?  This is the Sullivan's Cutting Edge ruler.  I love these, for several reasons.  They were developed by a quilter ~ Pat Sloan (waving at you Pat!!).  I like the frosting on the back that helps both with reading the ruler, and is added protection against sliding when you are cutting.  I really like how clear and easy to read they are with the black, white and red hash marks.

...And there's a bonus: this added diamond powder incrusted edge that helps to keep your rotary blade sharper longer ~ how cool is that!  I liked these rulers so much when I first saw them at Quilt Market that I stock some of them in my web store (click view all, or scroll to page 2 & 3 of the Notions section to see all the rulers I have in stock).

Join us starting tomorrow for a fun blog hop where you can travel to 8 different bloggers, learn some tips, share some recipes, have a few laughs, and maybe win yourself a ruler!  See you tomorrow!!!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn