Sunday, December 28, 2014

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and were able to spend time with their families!  We were able to have two of our three children and their families home this year for Christmas.  Our third daughter (OB Nurse) had to work on Christmas day and live quite a distance from us.  She lives in Idaho with her husband and two children, they are both in the US Air Force so they were not able to come home.   




My Long Arm was humming for the last month trying to make certain that everyone got their quilts in time for Christmas.  I am actually surprised that I managed to get it all done but I did!  My projects on the other hand did not manage to get all done :(.  I had hoped to get a quilt quilted for my husband and I designed a Christmas Stocking for our Grandchildren that I wanted to get quilted and put together but again that didn't happen.  I figured I'm already getting started for Christmas next year!

I normally spend the week between Christmas and New Years cleaning out my sewing room and planning out my goals for the next year. By Christmas morning my sewing room looked like a bomb had exploded in it.  Seriously, you couldn't walk 2 steps in the room without having to step over something!  I did manage to get it back under control, my husband said that it deserved a 'before' and 'after' picture.  My next small project is to review my goals from last year and finish writing down my 2015 goals.  I have found that if I take the time to write my goals down, they actually happen.  I can't begin to explain how excited I am for 2015 and the changes that are coming to my sewing room and my Long Arm Studio, I promise to let you in on it soon!

I hope all is well with you and your families!

Happy Quilting!
Margaret


Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Southern Belle Conference

I feel like I've traveled all over the East Coast this last month!  I visited NYC a few weeks back for Quilter's Take Manhattan and had a wonderful time, saw some incredible quilts and met some wonderful people, more on this trip soon I promise!

Last week I spent 4 days in Atlanta Georgia attending the Southern Belle Statler Conference.  This was an intense 4 days of learning some pretty cool custom designs and how to use them on my Gammill Statler Long Arm.  The program was taught by Anita Shakleford and Joan (pronounced JoAn) Knight and was geared towards custom quilting and some of the new things my Gammill will do.  

While there I also met four quilting pattern designers in addition to seeing some of Anita’s new quilting designs.  The new designs ranged from the very traditional to extremely modern.  One of the designers, Joyce Lundrigan has designed a group of triangle patterns that are interchangeable!  Yes!  They are fantastic because if you don’t like the inside of one of the triangles you can just take it out and insert a different center design and all of these triangles can be used individually.  Here’s a snapshot of a couple of her patterns



This morning I finished up a quilt using some of these patterns and they were very easy to put together and stitched out wonderfully.  Want to see what they look like stitched out?


I needed a square and the triangles went together so easily I couldn't resist putting them together besides don't you love the new pattern it made?
 

I’m not certain how well you will be able to see the triangles, hopefully you can.  This table topper was made with Jo Morton’s new line called Melodies, yes, this is the same fabric I used as background fabric for the placemats.

Let me know if you would like to see some of the patterns the other designers brought to show off and I’d be happy to share them with you! 

Happy Quilting!
Margaret

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Placemats with Candies

 Placemats with Candies

Recently I was watching a YouTube tutorial on Missouri Star Quilt Company on how to make a real simple ‘Zig Zag Table Runner’ by Kansas Troubles.  The complete Table Runner pattern and is available in their new book Layers of Love:



The runner was really cute and looked beyond simple but one problem, I didn't need a new table runner but I did need some new placemats!  I adapted what I saw them doing to make some new ones for my table!  What do you think?  Did I do good?



To make mine I used 4 – 5” WOF strips of Jo Morton’s new line of fabric Melodies by Jo Morton and for the 2 ½” squares I picked Laundry Basket Quilts Jelly Bean Candies by Moda.  You can watch my tutorial here:




Fabric Requirements

4 Placemats
6 Placemats
Background 1
1/2 Yard
3/4 Yard
Background 2
1/2 Yard
3/4 Yard
Background 3
1/2 Yard
3/4 Yard
Background 4
1/2 Yard
1/2 Yard
Moda Candies
2
3
Backing Fabric
4 Fat Quarters
6 Fat Quarters
Batting
4 - 18" x 22"
6 - 18" x 22"
Bindings Strips  (inc)
8-2 ½” WOF
12-2 ½” WOF


Fabric I used:

Background Fabric I used Melodies by Jo Morton
#1
Green Pinwheel Waves
#2
Green Clematis Blooms
#3
Green Feathering Leaves
#4
Green Stripes
Candies
Laundry Basket Quilts Jelly Bean by Moda


I also used “The Strip Stick” when pressing my seams open.  This is a pretty handy tool to help when pressing seams open or to one side because the iron concentrates on pressing where the seam is.  The Strip Stick is available in 3 sizes: Mini, 18” & 45”, I like the 45” one it’s great when pressing borders too!


Happy Quilting!

Friday, August 29, 2014

Erin Condren Update and Latest Purchases!

 I received my latest order from Erin Condren!!  I have been searching for a calendar/planner all year and I finally have found one that is working for me!  I have tried Franklin Covey, Day Timer and making own and none of them worked for me until I found Erin Condren Life Planner.  In June I purchased my Fleur Feliz Rainbow Life Planner.  When I ordered it I ordered just basic items that I knew I wanted right away just in case this ended up being another planner that just didn't work out for me.

 On the right is my Fleur Feliz Rainbow Life Planner and on the right are my
brand new Fleur Feliz Rainbow Notepads! (Notepads come packaged in 2's)


 I also purchased a few new covers!  I am so excited that I can now change
my covers depending on my mood!!  This cover is Party Pops in White.  I think the colorful all caps 'Miss Marker's Quilts' is beyond PERFECT for those days I'm feeling like it's party time!

 I just HAD to get the note pads to go along with it!  It thought these would be perfect for writing little notes to customers or for doodling quilting designs on.  The paper quality was much nicer than I expected which makes me very happy!


 My Family knows I'm a PINK kind of girl!  Love PINK so I just had to get a cover for those
 times that I just want to be Margaret.  I do like this but the pink is not quite 
the soft pink that I had expected.  Still really like it and am very happy withe this purchase.



 I also purchased a new On The Go Notebook in Zen Gems.  I already have the On The Go Notebook in Trellis Brights with a 12 month calendar that I use for my business, this one if for personal use!


 

A few snapshots of the inside of the notebook.  Again, the paper quality is wonderful!

Included with my purchase was a free On The Go 18 Month calendar that is the perfect size to throw in your purse.

Just like all the Erin Condren products it is beautiful bright and fun!  I like the layout of this especially.  I'm not certain if they meant it to be used this way but really like the fact that the entire next month is on the left page so that you can easily reference the next month when making notes.  Great layout people at Erin Condren!

If you haven't tried any of Erin Condren's products yet I highly recommend them, the paper is very high quality and you can tell a lot of thought and planning went into the development of the layout.  I am yet to be disappointed in any of the products I've purchased.   If you click here you will receive a $10.00 off coupon for your first purchase.  Start small like I did, I started with a notebook, if I had it to do over again I would have started with a Life Planner but either way the products are wonderful and well worth the wait period for printing and shipping!

Click here to get your Erin Condren $10.00 coupon!

To watch my review of my latest Erin Condren Purchase:


Thanks for hanging in for this very LONG post!!

Happy Quilting!

Monday, August 18, 2014

Miss Marker's Quilts Dot Com!

I know, it's been forever since I've written anything on my blog and for that I am truly sorry!!  I have been extremely busy trying to get my web site up and running.  I can FINALLY say that it is up and live!  YEA!  I still have more work to do on it but I did manage to get a lot of the threads I use up there and 2 of my patterns so PLEASE go check it out and sign up for my newsletter!!!



Thanks so much for stopping by!  Next up on YouTube is my most recent Erin Condren review and stay tuned for the 1,000,000 Pillowcase Challenge in September.

Happy Quilting Everyone!!

Friday, June 27, 2014

Erin Condren 2014 - 2015 Life Planner

Everyone seems to be talking lately about Erin Condren products so I wanted to find out what all the buz was about!  I was skeptical at first, figuring that one planner/calendar was like every other one on the market AND to add to that I had spent quite a bit of money in December on a new Franklin Covey planner.  Because I was so skeptical I decided to take it slow and easy and purchase something that no matter what would come in handy for me.


My very first Erin Condren purchase was this address book!  Love it!


Inside the cover is a place to write my contact information so if I ever misplace it hopefully someone will return it to me! 
 



The things I like most about this address book are:
1. The space to write names and addresses isn't to big or to small, it's just the perfect size!
2. There is a place to list both home and mobile phone numbers.
3.  Spacing for the email address is BIG!  this is important considering some email addresses can be pretty LONG! :)
4. I love the colorful pages, they are beautiful!
 





After the address section there are a few pages for notes.  These are unlined pages but I am certain they will come in handy at some point.


It also comes with 2 pocket folder and a plastic bag that will be perfect to sore other people's business cards until I get their information into the book.


 Last but not least is a page marker that is easily movable within the address book.  I did purchase a pen holder to put in my address book.

I love it!  It is working out exactly how I need it to work!!!


I liked the address book so much that I wanted to see what their calendars looked like so my next purchase was the Note Book.


I bought it in May and used it for the entire month and knew without a doubt I was sold on these products!  I had originally thought that I would use it to keep track of my Quilting/Long Arm Schedule but have since changed my mind.  The good news about my change of mind is now that the covers are removable I can just order a new cover for it. 


Here's a snap shot of the inside cover.


The calendar!  I believe it was for an additional $5.00 I could add a calendar to the notebook, it was totally worth it!


Great stickers behind the Calendar.  In fact I like some of them better than the ones that came with my Life Planner.  The stickers that have 'doc appt.' also have a space to write what time the appointment is at '@_______", same for hair appointments and dentist appointments!  I like this feature a lot and when I order more stickers I will for certain be adding these to my purchase.


The note book mostly has lined pieces of paper.  They again are the perfect size!  My hand writing isn't huge but it isn't tiny either.  These pages are just right, not to big, not to small!


There are a total of 17 pages that are set up like the above photo.  Perfect for drawing or doodling, which ever suits my mood for that day :). 


In the back you find the classic Erin Condren folder pockets and the zip lock pouch.  I believe I will order a new cover soon and it will simply state Miss Marker's Quilts, Notes on the cover.

All of the above leads directly to what I received in the mail yesterday!!!!  Yup!  I received my 18 month 2014 - 2015 Erin Condren Life Planner!!!!!


 This was my third (but not my last) purchase from Erin Condren.  There were a couple of minor issues with this purchase, one my mistake and one theirs.   I had wanted the cover to have Miss Marker's Quilts all capitalized, when I placed my order I was so excited to be getting it I didn't read carefully and so I didn't make a notation in the special instructions that I wanted all the words to be capitalized.  

The other thing that happened was I had ordered a set of elastic bands and did not receive them.  I'm certain they will send them.  I have contacted customer service and have heard nothing but good about them so there are no worries here.


I am seriously i love with how colorful this planner!



The monthly calendars are again the perfect size, the planner lays flat no matter how many pages are on one side.  There are the cutest little pictures on the holidays.  For Easter there is a little decorated Easter Egg.


The weekly pages are set up perfectly!  The spaces to write in are the perfect size, I like the fact that the day is split into thirds and the fact that on Sunday night I can write my goals for the week and then they are right in my face so that I can accomplish them.


Next comes lined pages for notes.


A 2016 & 2017!  (2014 & 2015 calendar is in the front.)


Great stickers that are now re-positionable!


2 pockets to hold my extra stickers and anything else I may need.


A zippered plastic pouch at the back, a perfect place to put receipts or anything else that I need safely tucked away.


The beautifully colored back!

I am (obviously) thrilled with my purchase!  I am going to order a new cover for my 'Take Note' book and will be using that for a Notebook when I am at conferences and will continue to use the address book for my business.

If you've been thinking about ordering from Erin Condren, I honestly can't say enough good about their products.  I am thrilled with what I've purchased and believe that it is worth every penny I spent.

Erin Condren has supplied me with a link for my readers (and You Tube subscribers) to receive $10.00 off their first purchase!!!  So now's the time, if you've been thinking of purchasing something from Erin Condren click here to receive $10.00 off your purchase!!!

Thank you for reading!  You can find my tutorials on You Tube by searching for Margaret Leuwen Quilting.



Saturday, June 14, 2014

A Baby's First Quilt

I finished  a very special quilt this week for Karen!  Karen is expecting her first child and has made this quilt for him and it is adorable!

It was quilted with White Linen thread color and there were a few different patterns used.


Caroline Feathered Cable was used in the outside border.


NY Beauty Star was used to outline the Kites.  This pattern was half of what was needed to fill the area so I duplicated and changed the horizontal aspect of the pattern to achieve what was needed to fill the space.


Feathered Kite was used in the Kites.



 A Simple swirl was used to fill the sashing strips.



And a snapshot of the back!  I love the elephants!


Happy Quilting!!
Margaret

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Jo Morton Club

I belonged to a Jo Morton Club this  past year at O'Susannah's Quilts & Gifts.  There were a total of 9 patterns and all of the quits were small wall hangings and are only available for club members.  I managed to get 3 of the 9 tops completed and out of the 3 I managed to get 2 of them quilted and bound!  Sue invited everyone from the group to her house for dinner and to see everyone's quilts!  Dinner was fantastic but the Quilts were absolutely gorgeous!  Sue strung a clothes line between the pillars on her porch so that we could show off our work!



I have to admit the flowers on her porch are really pretty too!


These classes were taught by Sharon Bristol.  Sharon works at the shop and also teaches there.  She is a wonderful teacher and has a fantastic beginner's class!




The third quilt in from the left was the only quilt there that wasn't a club pattern but it is one of JoMorton's patterns.  Suzanne made it and the applique is all wool!  It is really sharp!




Sue's house is on a corner and the street is quite busy, our quilts were definitely stopping traffic!  More than once someone slammed on their breaks so they could get a better look!





Hope you enjoyed!!

Happy Quilting!
Margaret