Author Archives: material_girl_lisa

Material Girlfriends Mystery – Clue 2

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Clue #2 is here!!

If you missed Clue #1 just scroll to the blog before this one. The Clues are delivered every other day. In Clue #1 we had some cutting instructions. There are just 4 Clues so this Shelter in Place Mystery is quick and simple. Yet, you can get such a complicated look with your finished quilt top!

Clue # 2 is hidden on inbetweenstitches.com Check this page and search around. https://inbetweenstitches.rainadmin.com/shop/Sale.htm Did you find it?

Here are some tips on sewing up Clue #2.

The Dark Block (dark strips on the outside) can have the same dark strip on both sides of the light strip.

OR you can scrappy it up and have different dark strips on both sides of the light strip.

The runner that I made to test the block and instructions, I kept both sides the same fabric and I liked my results. One of the Material Girlfriends, tester and proofer, Judy White, made her dark strips different. I really liked her finished blocks too! So this time, I’m making my blocks with different darks on both sides of the light strip.

If you prefer Controlled Scrappy, make it with the same dark on both sides. If you like Random Scrappy, mix up the darks. During this Shelter in Place, you may need more control. Control the colors to your heart’s content. If you need to RELEASE the control, because, really, we can’t control any of what is going on in our world, make your dark strips random. This also applies if you’re using multiple whites. Whichever you choose, you get to make that decision.

Stuff happens. Layer cakes are not all cut perfect. Random edges will happen. That’s okay. We’ll be trimming in Clue#3. Just be sure your seam allowance is accurate and press your seams toward the dark side.

Remember, we may have to be physically distanced from each other but we don’t have to socially distance from each other. Stay connected. I would love to see your progress. Find the Material Girlfriends Facebook page and follow us or find In Between Stitches Inside the Hive and join the group. We want to see your progress!

Remember, we’re in this together.

Absewlutely,

Lisa Norton

Material Girlfriends Mystery – First Clue!

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I’m ready! Are you? We’re starting the Material Girlfriends Mystery today! This is what I selected. I cut my twenty-four 10″ white squares to go with my layer cake. I received this beautiful Strata 10″ square set, by Michael Miller, in December. It was in that huge box they sent us for becoming Michael Miller Brand Ambassadors. I then selected twenty-eight Medium/Dark squares from the Strata layer cake. You only need twenty-four but I’m the self proclaimed Queen of the Mis-Cut. Beside, now I’ll have design options!

This is what Lora selected beautiful batiks from her stash. “I am using my Go!Accuquilt to cut my 10”squares. Love how fast and accurate it is!”
You can find Clue #1 at InbetweenStitches.com on the Material Girlfriend Pattern page. Click on the pink “MysteryQuilt?” icon and it will reveal Clue #1. The first clue is cutting so if you are just jumping in, and you’ve not selected or cut your 10″ squares yet, no worries. This one is a quick Clue.
Absewlutely,
Lisa Norton

Material Girlfriends Mystery Entertainment

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Are you tired of working on your UFOs already? Then let’s play!! Lora and I have been doing fast and fun Mystery classes over the past few years. We had this new mystery design up our sleeve for our 2021 Mystery class but lets not wait. Let’s do it now! 

Our Mystery Formula for Each Year

  • Fabric requirements are the same (plus border or accent fabric, depending on design)
  • There are less than 6 Clues
  • Beginner friendly
  • Can be completed in a long weekend

The following are pictures of our previous Mystery patterns. And really, they may look complicated, but they are not difficult to sew. A confident beginner can master our easy instructions.

2020 Mystery

2019 Mystery2018 Mystery

2017 Mystery

2016 Mystery

We’re starting tomorrow, Thursday, March 26. We will reveal a Clue every other day or so, instead of our usual 1 day class. You in?!

This is what you need.

  • 24 Light 10″ squares
  • 24 Medium/Dark 10″ squares
  • 1 yard if you want to add a 4 1/2″ border,
  • 1/2 yard for binding (enough with 4 1/2″ border)
  • 3 1/2 backing (enough with 4 1/2″ border)

A layer-cake will do but won’t be enough. Most layer cakes won’t have the right number of lights and medium/darks so you’ll need to add from your stash anyway.

You can use one fabric for all your light squares or visa versa. You’ll need 2 yards to cut twenty-eight 10″ squares (four extra for mistakes).

I like clear contrast between the lights and mediums. It makes the design pop better. For this Mystery, I’m choosing to make all my light squares one white. I’m using a Michael Miller Strata layer cake for my medium/dark squares. Layer cakes come with 42 squares, so I’ll just pick out what I like best and save the others for another project. For my test runner, I used multiple lights and medium/darks and I liked those results too.

If you don’t have everything, don’t worry. Once the Shelter in Place order is lifted, you can pick up whatever else you’re missing. Melissa said she had grabbed some supplies from the quilt shop for the Mystery so if you need something, giver her a quick email info@inbetweenstitches.com. If you have any questions, leave me a comment below.

Follow our blog, Facebook page, In Between Stitches Facebook page, Instagram, and you’ll see where to pick up your next Clue.

I know distancing ourselves to protect each of us from the Pandemic is very important. But remember, it is PHYSICAL distancing – not SOCIAL distancing. Let’s stay connected. Remember, we’re in this together.

Absewlutely,

Lisa Norton

Quilters Therapy

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I’ve been “Sheltered in Place” now for a week. 7 days. 168 hours. The isolation has been getting to me a bit. I’m beginning to talk to my iron. I’ve named him Wilson. Wilson and I disagree about steam or no steam. But whatever, he’s hard headed and full of hot air.

I miss you. Really. I hope you’re well. Last blog, Lora talked about how GREEN is a very supportive color when dealing with scary stuff like the Pandemic. It soothes our frayed edges.

Today I want to give you a present. Wilson wanted a present too, but I said no. This was for quilters. He’s sitting on my ironing board huffing and puffing. “Dial it back there a bit, Wilson. You have steam coming out of your nose. Besides, you can’t sew.”

Here. For you. I hope you like it. I call it “Recovery Quilt, Psychology of Color for Quilting Therapy.” Click HERE and this FREE pattern will download for you.

The first page has great information on the Psychology of Color. We’re focusing on GREEN  for the moment.

The quilt is made up of Xs and Os, or Hugs and Kisses, blocks. Each block is made up of green and white Half Square Triangles. I used 10 solid greens plus the background white for the pattern. The solids come from Michael Miller’s Cotton Couture line. LOVE all these beautiful solids. BUT, since shipments were delayed and I don’t have all my solids yet, my Half Square Triangles are only half done. *sigh*. Lora tested the pattern using a lovely selection of green batiks from her stash. Her combination of warm and cool greens (yellow greens and blue greens) give the Xs and Os sparkle. When selecting your greens, don’t get too matchy-matchy but look at the value (light/medium/dark) and the hue (warm green and cool greens). I think Wilson just rolled his eyes at me. Really, it creates drama. Check out Lora’s results.
Now, aren’t you wanting to sew up some green and white Half Square Triangles? Me too. The pattern includes four ways to create Half Square Triangles. You can sew them two-at-a-time, four-at-a-time, or eight-at-a-time, depending on the size of your green fabric. Plus, I’ve included instructions if you have an AccuQuilt machine.

Lora and I had a video interview with Rob Appell. It should air sometime after Thursday. He is a funny guy and sew much fun to work with. You can watch his show at Making it Fun with Rob Appell.

Wilson says he’s thirsty so I probably should go get us both some more water. Stay sane! Sew with some green. Remember, we’re in this together. Shelter in Place is Physical Distancing, not Social Distancing. Stay connected.

Absewlutely,

Lisa Norton

GREEN

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It was noon and I hadn’t even brushed my hair yet. The rush to stock groceries, prescriptions, and other preparations for a county-wide shelter-in-place order, sapped the energy right out of me.

Day 1 of extreme “Social Distancing” was pretty hard. I am a very social person. I was not only worried about the Covid-19 virus, but I was also anxious about how I was going to deal with three weeks of isolation. I was troubled most of the day.

Then Rob Appell sent me an email. “Let’s video chat.”
“Ummm, tomorrow good?” I responded, pulling my fingers through my uncombed hair. We had exchanged emails last week. We were going to talk about Color Psychology. Lisa had designed a brilliant quilt project and Rob was all over it. Rob had said it was exactly what he needed.

Color Psychology you ask? Yep. The Psychology of Color has been around for a very long time, but in our modern culture, it is the secret of marketing and politicians to appeal to people’s emotions. You see, color can help us and it can help us a lot. We told Rob about Green.

Green relaxes us mentally as well as physically and helps alleviate anxiety. Green supports and stimulates health, new growth, generosity, and fertility.

Where I had only talked about green, Rob physically dove into his green stash and swam to a much healthier place than where I was at. Therefore, he was ready for Day 1 and I was still in my pajamas.

To prepare for our video chat, I began to pull out all my green. Green stash, ahh, green projects, hmm, and completed green quilts. *Sigh*. I had only stroked the green pile and I was already feeling better and able to cope. Visualize walking through a fresh green meadow, the woods and forest dancing in a gentle breeze. Exhale. Feeling a bit less anxious? That is the feeling of green.

Today I really enjoyed our three-way video chat between Rob, Lisa and I. We laughed a lot. Rob is so cool and positive. I’ve been physically alone all day in my sewing studio, yet I have felt so connected to our quilting community. I am really grateful for modern electronics that keep us linked together, arm in arm. I can do this. Remember, we’re in this together. Let’s stay connected. Visit your green fabrics. I suspect it will soothe your frayed edges as it did mine.

Lora Zmak
Material Girlfriends

Definition: A shelter-in-place order is when, during an extreme public health emergency, residents of a specific city or region are asked to stay indoors in their homes or other safe spaces. Though the rules on this vary depending on the region, mandates often require everything just short of a complete lockdown with exceptions to go out for medicine or food. Contra Costa County was one of 6 counties that issued the Shelter-in-place order which will last 3 weeks, until April 7.

What Makes a Good Recipe?

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Flexibility, good ingredients, and ease. Inspired by Michael Miller’s new panel, Mon Ami, we decided to cook up a new pattern. The trouble with panel patterns are not all panels are the same size. Therefore, panel patterns are really limited. We needed one that would be flexible, have good ingredients, and easy to put together.

With any good recipe, start with your main ingredient, the panel. The pattern example uses Mon Ami fabric panel by Michael Miller Fabrics. The panel size is 2/3 yard by WOF [Width of Fabric] before trimming. It was just too pretty. What you can’t see in the tiny picture is the lovely marble background and the lush deep colors of this panel.

The other good ingredients for this panel are the beautiful fabrics in the Mon Ami line. Check out this Michael Miller’s link to see all the coordinating fabrics.

The Panel Sampler Recipe Pattern was designed to give you flexibility and control. By changing just a few design ingredients, you have the ability to create a variety of flavors. You can customize your quilt around the size of your panel. The design options are given in 3” increments, making your panel project a successful experience to design and sew.

We’ve made two versions of the Mon Ami while testing this pattern. The first uses the whole panel. The second trims the panel down to just the bouquet.

The examples below show how the Panel Sampler Recipe Pattern can be customized to fit any size panel, full cut or a portion of the cut. Since panels come in many shapes and sizes, having the design flexibility of 3” increments allows you to fit a fun sampler design to the panel size of your choosing.

Fabric requirements: 1 panel, 3 fat quarters of light, 3 fat quarters of medium and 3 fat quarters of dark. If your panel is small, you’ll end up with a little extra fabric.

Because this sampler pattern booklet is so new, it hasn’t returned from the printers yet. But we decided to have an instant download available for a short time. Because, who likes to wait?! The printed version will resale at $16.95 and should be available in 2 weeks. Or you can visit our Etsy store today to purchase your instant download for half price, $8.00. Don’t wait to purchase the instant download. This really will be for a limited time only.

Check out these Panel Sampler Recipe quilts from our Gallery!

The eagle one was sewn up by Diana Garnhart. She said she recently bought the panel at Quilters’ Hollow in Stockton.

Ric-Rac added to the wheel gives it an animated look.We would love to see what you whip up with your panel and the Panel Sampler Recipe pattern. Send us a picture to Lisa@materialgirlfriends.com or share on your social media #PanelSamplerRecipePattern

Absewlutely,

Lisa Norton

Don’t Ruffle My Feathers

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We were sent some beautiful batiks by Michael Miller Fabrics for the Peek into Batiks Monthly Sew Along. Check out the program here Peek into Batiks

These are the fabrics being used. I LOVE THEM! While waiting for the program to start, we just couldn’t keep our hands off.We made this cute 12 1/2″ block, “Don’t Ruffle My Feathers”.

In the Michael Miller Ambassador box we received in December, there was a bunch of ruffles included, 1″ Ruff Ruffles. My first response to the ruffle was, “What the heck am I suppose to do with this?”. Challenge accepted. We used the ruffle for the owl’s chest! The ruffle is a 100% cotton with a raw edge. Lora decided to try a permanent marker dye technique she had read about. Too fun!

You’ll need about 2 yards of ruffle. Start by wrapping the ruffle around a piece of cardboard. Then select Sharpie Markers in the colors you’d like to dye your ruffle. My ruffle is with tan speckles. Lora’s ruffle is yellow, orange, and pink to match the batik she wanted to use.

After you speckled the heck out of the white ruffle, spray or sprinkle Rubbing Alcohol on the dyed ruffle. This blurs the pen inks. Rinse with water until the water runs clear. Allow to dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lora’s ruffle turned out great! It matched the batik fabulously. While you’re waiting for the ruffle to dry. Print out the appliqué pieces here. 12×12.DontRufflyMyFeathersOwl.Applique, DontRuffleMyFeathersOwl.AppliqueSheet1, DontRuffleMyFeathersOwl.AppliqueSheet2 (Limited time only so don’t wait to download!) Be sure to tile at 100% size the 12×12 sheet and print 100% size the pieces sheets. Cut your background square at 12 1/2″.

I really like using Heatn’Bond EZ Print Lite Fusible sheets for double sided fusible appliqué. You can put your reversed appliqué images (already done for you in the download images above) on the glass of your home inkjet copier/printer. Then put one sheet of the EZ Print Lite Fusible product in the tray. Copy your images directly to the fusible web!! No tracing.
Next you’ll trim out your images, 1/4” from the outer edges and then “window pane” the larger images by trimming a 1/4” on the inside of the lines. This gives your appliqué a soft feel instead of being stiff from too much fusible product.

Fuse for just a couple seconds to the wrong side of your fabric. Trim out on the line.
Trim your dyed ruffle just a bit wider than the chest of the owl. Beginning at the bottom, sew a ruffle on about every inch allowing about half an inch of ruffle to show with each layer.  Lora added 11 rows of ruffle. Trim off the excess ruffle on each side. Remove the fusible paper around the edge and it is ready to fuse to your background! 
Since the background is dark, it is easier to layer your appliqué pieces on a white fusible teflon sheet on top of the 12×12 positioning sheet. Position your owl and branch pieces and then lightly fuse the pieces together with a light tap of the iron. Just enough to hold the pieces together. Then peel the entire fused unit off the teflon sheet. Lay on the 12 1/2″ square and fuse into place.

Add a blanket stitch in coordinating threads around the edges of the appliqué pieces.
Yes, Lora put the 12 1/2″ square on her long arm. Quilt as desired, bind and enjoy on your wall or stand or make into a pillow or tote!

Too much fun! Yes, I suppose we’ll have to order more fabric for the Sew Along, but I’m okay with that.

Absewlutely,

Lisa Norton

The glass is half-full, and the other half was delicious!

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My niece and nephew-in-law are in New Zealand on their honeymoon, and that was the bumper sticker on their rented car. Lots of wisdom in bumper stickers.

When Emily shared with us the wit on her rented wheels, the tagline buzzed around my brain for several days. I loved the thought. It speaks of a positive outlook and gratitude for the past.

I decided to make it my 2020 slogan.

The glass is half-full,
Because 2020 is “the year of vision or clarity,” we started planning for 2020 in November! We have so many plans for new patterns, books, programs, and shows. Lora and I became Michael Miller Brand Ambassadors for 2020 too. They sent an AccuQuilt machine and dies, plus GOBS of colorful fabric. We’ll be starting a Block of the Month Quilt Along with Michael Miller in January. More info on that soon. I can’t wait for 2020 to get started. It will be a fun year for Material Girlfriends.

To look back at 2019, I pulled out a quilt from one of our patterns called Deep Reflections. Appropriate for thinking. I want to say 2019 was all roses and not a single struggle, not a frustrated tear, not even a sour note. But of course, that wouldn’t be truthful. There were many days of hard work and little to show for it. Without encouragement and support from our spouses, Lora and I probably would have faltered or sunk to the carpet more often than we did! But I choose to reflect on the past year with an attitude of gratitude – what a great year.

Lora and I grew as a team. We are so strong together. And funny. And creative. We love working with each other.

Material Girlfriends Patterns company grew. We broke all our records and surpassed our 2019 goals. I used up all my fingers and toes, trying to count all the new patterns we made this year. We’ll say over 20 so Lora doesn’t have to take her shoes off. We are THIS close to finishing our book, “Circle is the New Square.” Our first fabric line was manufactured (2nd line scheduled for July 2020). We had a booth at Houston’s Quilt Market and Festival for the first time. And we met more quilters in this one year than ever before. The quilters are what make this half delicious. Lora and I are so relational that if we didn’t have the interaction with all the wonderful quilters out there, creating quilts would be a bit flat. Quilters indeed make my life delicious.

Is it too early for a pre-dinner glass of wine? I’m ready to fill it to the top, wrap up in Deep Reflections and smile over the wonderful year I had with you all.

In 2020, may your glass always be half full, and the other half delicious.

Absewlutely,

Lisa Norton

 

Christmas Came Early!

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Last month, when Lora and I were in Houston at the National Quilt Market (see a couple of blogs back for the Houston show report), we were approached by a super cool quilter that told us we should apply to be Michael Miller Ambassadors. She loved our patterns and thought we’d be a great addition to their program. She even went back to the Michael Miller Fabrics booth to collect the program information for us! Talk about sweet. Quilt Market and Festival were busy, but when we got home, I immediately went online, and I applied for the program. So what was the program, you ask? This was what was on their webpage.

1.    Free fabric and goodies.

Go no further, right? You got me at number 1.

2.    Promotion of you and your brand by sharing your content on our social media channels.

Uh, yes, please. This would be awesome for our little pattern company.

3.    Opportunities for you to be featured on our blog and marketing channels.

Really? Can it get any better?

4.    Sharing our “I Like Mike” promo badge and other graphics and images for your posts.

Easy-Peasy. (Already up, did you notice?)

5.    Opportunities for your patterns/projects to be included in our catalogs and marketing materials.

OMG! It just doesn’t stop!

6.    Connections to magazine publications for your projects using Michael Miller fabric.

Someone help me off the floor.

So of course, I applied. But, considering the competition out there, I didn’t hold my breath. Imagine my surprise when I got an acceptance email. It was to just 11 email addresses welcoming us into the program! YES!!! I was so excited. I shared the info immediately with Lora, mom, and a few Material Girlfriends, but didn’t share with you all yet. I kinda had a little fear that they would email again and say, “Just kidding, we changed our mind.” But it is happening!! Pinch me. We feel so honored that they would trust us with this program!

My Material Girlfriend proofing and editing team is now in a group chat called MM Am-bad-ass-editors. LOL.
The Minky was cool. They had cute stuffy toys made of it too.
The Michael Miller Solids, called Cotton Couture, are to DYE for. They have 214 colors! Woodland Musicians cute display

My husband, Michael, wanted to know if I was getting my own embassy too. “No,” I told him, “just an embassy car, with Material Girlfriend logo flags flying over the side mirrors (aka my old blue Durango).” I get free parking in Discovery Bay.

Sew, we will keep you posted. We should be receiving a box full of goodies later this month. We’ll show you all the fun things we will be creating with Michale Miller fabrics in 2020!

Absewlutely,

Lisa Norton

Michael Miller Fabrics Brand Ambassador

I Have an Idea

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“I have an idea,” Lora said.

My first thought was with a smile, is it going to get us in trouble?

Lora and I are identical twins, but we’re not ‘two peas in a pod’; instead, we are like ‘two sides of the same coin’. I’m Heads and she’s Tails. I know how that sounds, lol. I don’t mean I’m the brains of the operation, nor does Lora follow me around as a tail. I’m a Starter, and she’s a Finisher. I do most of the design work. We both piece, and then Lora finishes the quilt with her amazingly artistic, free-motion quilting. When Lora says she has an idea, I take note. Even though she doesn’t design often, when she does, it’s brilliant.

“What’s your idea?” I asked. We had just finished Lisa’s Finishing School at In Between Stitches. It is a fun, Open-Sew-with-Help, type class, every first and third Saturday evenings. While unplugging irons, checking doors, and turning off lights, we were discussing my “Design To-Do” list. Or mostly, I was discussing, and Lora was politely not listening.

“I have an idea,” she repeated. “Just a sec.” and she runs off into the already darkened quilt shop. She finds a paper towel and pen, and after a moment of sketching, she hands me the paper. I laughed right out loud, “This is fantastic! Too funny and very cute. I’ll keep this and draw it up into a Christmas Bite Size pattern.” It didn’t take me long to re-draw her sketch and write up the instructions. At our first opportunity, we sewed it up.

Lora’s quick sketch

Re-drawn by Lisa

Drawn again on the computer with Illustrator by Lisa

Lora worked on the elf appliquéOops! I almost sewed it right.

Deciding on the hat embellishment. Pom-pom all the way.

If you’re not familiar with the naughty elf tradition, you’ll want to google “Elf on the Shelf” and “Elves Behaving Badly.” They are the inspiration for this funny block. The skinny elf causes mischief when you’re not looking or when you’re asleep. I almost sewed up the Variable Star the correct way. Lora caught me before sewing it correctly wrong! That little elf was up to no good! Lora quilted this 12″ Bite Size quilt on her long-arm. Yes. She. Did.

On December 15, 11am-4pm, Lora and I will be teaching a lecture/project class called “How a Quilter is Pieced” at In Between Stitches. The light-hearted lecture and small trunk show are about the different quilting personalities, and then we will sew up this cute naughty elf block. The pattern and kit (just like the example shown) are included in the class fee. Join us! Last time I checked there was about 6 seats left.

We had never offered a digital download pattern before so we thought this would be a good one to try. We are calling this naughty elf “Christmas Mischief Bite Size Pattern” for $4.95. Lora posted a few pictures online, and the digital pattern orders were astounding! Lora is brilliant. Don’t worry, if you prefer to have a hard copy we can get you one of those too.

Time to bust out the Christmas decorations and some nog. Christmas is just around the corner. I hope you enjoy a little Christmas Mischief too!

Absewlutely,

Lisa Norton