Miss Loreen's Schoolhouse

Block of the Month Project

I found a great block of the month one day project while browsing the internet and it was FREE!  I emailed the first month to a few of my friends and students to see if anyone was interested in joining me on this project.  It's all applique and has a different theme for each month's block which seems to go along with the months of the year.  January's block has a snowman and February's block has some hearts. 

There are several ways to applique and for this project I've chosen to fuse the pieces onto the background since the pieces were a bit on the small side.  I am using Steam-A-Seam Lite to fuse the pieces.  Simply tracing the pieces onto the Steam-A-Seam makes it pretty quick.  I just have to remember to print out the pieces using the mirror image on my printer.  It did take me a minute or two to find the mirror image feature in my printer properties.  Now I just have to remember to use mirror image each month!!

One of my sewing friends got her block done before me and here I am the "leader" of the project!!  So, of course, I had to sit down as soon as possible and get going.  We had to get block one done in a two-week time frame though I can't remember exactly when that started.  I'm sure it's been at least that long.  While hanging my head in shame, I sent along block two to everyone along with a picture of my friend Donna's block.

I've now got block one and two cut out and fused to the background fabric.  I've stitched the vines on each block but still need to applique stitch round all those pieces.........those little tiny pieces.  Check out my BOM album to see my progress on my blocks.  I will upload Donna's finished block shortly so you can see block one appliqued as well.  We will be adding some embellishments to each of the blocks and I'll post them to the BOM album as we go along.  Please check back to see our progress.

Teacher as Student!!

Last Friday I took a sewing class with Nancy Prince on making a landscape wall hanging using free motion embroidery on a sewing machine. I was especially excited because I normally teach classes and rarely get to be a student. What a joy to be a student again!! Some of my "classmates" were former students. That was even more fun for me. Because I teach more classes in basic computer know how, sewing software and Electric Quilt than actual sewing projects, many of my students don't think about me actually sewing so it was a treat for them as well. We got to "hang" together as students learning a new technique. What a great way to start my day.

I packed up my sewing machine, the usual sewing supplies and notebook. It's quite different packing up to take a class instead of packing up to teach a class. No need to worry quite as much if something is forgotten. Combined with the fact that I had a day off from my job, it was a carefree feeling as I was driving to class. I could do this every week!!

The class went along pretty well. Had some trouble with tensions to deal with but other than that it was lots of fun. Nancy Prince is a great teacher. You can see her work, patterns, etc. online at. I've put a link up for your convenience. If you ever get a chance to take a class with her, it will be well worth your time.

Towards the end of the class, we had to stop and tally up our purchases. It was hard to decide what NOT to get. Nancy had given each of us a postcard of a quilt she made with a scene of houses (with actual clapboards), people and a horse pulling a wagon. You'd really have to see this quilt in person to appreciate the amount of work and detail that went into it.

Anyway, after I got my financial business taken care of, I got out the postcard for Nancy to sign when the class was over. I went back to free motion sewing. I was sewing the leaves on a big tree that would eventually look like a maple tree in the fall with all the yellows, oranges and reds. When I finished the section I was working on, I very proudly took it up to Nancy to be sure my stitching passed her approval. 

We had to sew a green leaf base for the tree before starting the fall foliage colors. As I was walking up to the front of the class, I turned over my project and low and behold, there was my postcard all sewn into my project!! I must have laughed for 10 minutes and I made sure that I showed all of my former students what a good job I did! See the pictures in Landscape Quilting. http://loreen.typepad.com/photos/landscape_quilting/   The first picture looks a bit wrinkled but that's not the actual fabric. When you sew this type of free motion technique, you draw your picture onto water soluble stabilizer and place it on top of your fabric.  The stabilizer gets washed away when you've finished sewing and all of your drawn lines disappear with the stabilizer.  Isn't that just too cool!!. Picture 2 is the back of my project. I gave you a real close up in picture 3 so you could see my actual stitching on the postcard.  It still makes me laugh.  I brought it home and showed my kids how talented I am! At least I have the postcard face up so you can see Nancy's quilt! Nancy said she will be telling this story at her next workshop!

I haven't decided yet whether to finish the tree or leave it as is. Either way, the postcard stays! I will bring it to my classes when I teach so all my future students can see where my real talent is! We always have lots of fun in class and this "project" will just add to the laughs.

Hope you're laughing,

Loreen