Tag Archives: #materialgirlfriendspatterns

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

 

 

Quilt Market and Festival Report

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We’re home! We’d been home a couple of weeks actually, but I had wanted to give a report on our trip. After more than three weeks on the road, having your own bathroom is sooo nice. I know most people miss their bed, but Holiday Inn’s beds are REALLY nice. Plus, the home we rented while in Houston was lovely, but there is no place like home.


We started on our road journey to Houston Quilt Market and Festival by first taking a slight detour to Colorado. It was on the way, right? My niece was getting married in Estes Park, and it was gorgeous. We all had a great time. Altitude took a wee bit getting used to (puff, puff, gasp, puff) No sewing during those few days, but it was super cool to see all of Lora’s lap quilts brought out for the guests to use during the outdoor ceremony. One little guy was snuggled on a lap in a Minky backed quilt, looking quite comfy and toasty. Lora had 23 quilts for the guests to borrow, and none of those were our pattern/show varieties.

Of course, the night before we leave, it started blowing snow like a typical Mountain storm. Scary for a couple California fair-weather quilters, towing a U-Haul trailer with a big fat Ram Truck. We pleaded for Kelly, Lora’s husband, to drive us down the mountain, and then once the snow was clear, we dropped him off at the airport to fly home. We bravely continued on.

We made it to “Amarillo by Morning” and continued the trail south. BIG open skies. Big. Driving along the highway I see a sign for Waco. WHAT?! Waco is on the way to Houston?! Only 20 minutes out of the way, but I made it in half the time! I’m a fan of the “Fixer Upper” show with Chip and Joanna Gaines. Their Silos remodel turned out great. If you’re close to Waco, stop in to see the Magnolia farms, and don’t forget cupcakes at the bakery!  The lemon lavender was terrific!

Houston, we have a problem. Houston’s downtown roads are ridiculous. Every overpass was under construction. The road signs were amuck. It took two GPS tracking phones, the truck’s GPS, and Mom’s AAA map to get us where we wanted to go. Whew.

We had no idea what to expect for Quilt Market. We were winging it. Our booth size was 10′ x 7′ and the tiniest booth we’d ever rented. The first day of Market, I gave away all our promotional materials. I underestimated the number of buyers wanting our flyers! Quick, more copies.

We were invited to a Marcus Fabric’s Designer Dinner. We pretended to be oh so cool, but on the inside, we were jumping on the bed! We had such a lovely time. The team at Marcus Fabrics is fabulous.

When Quilt Market was complete, we took it all down and put it all back up again, but this time in our standard 10′ x 20′ size booth. We opened on Halloween. “Double your pleasure with Doublemint Gum!” was a hoot. Gave away a lot of gum too!

https://www.facebook.com/QuiltFestival/videos/424688304886755/

The Sapphire Celebration Quilt Show was beautiful!!

I’ve got a ton of photos. We should get together for coffee, and I’ll bring my iPad so you can see them all.

We made it home in one piece. (Not the U-Haul tho, we broke that 30 minutes from making it back!) We’d never have made it without the Material Girlfriends Team, however. They are such a fun, hard-working crew, Carolyn Wooldridge, Diana Garnhart, Judy White, and Katheline Monnier. They stuck it through thick and thin, sickness and health, chiggers, and cockroaches! A true testament of friendship – after sharing a house for a week, we’re still all the best of friends. HUGE hugs to them all. I wouldn’t do it without you, ladies. I really would not.

With Thanksgiving just a couple days from now, I am reflecting on how truly grateful I am for the blessings we have received over our little pattern business, our Material Girlfriends Team, our super supportive families, and our encouraging customers. What would we do without you? Thank you from the very center of my heart.

Absewlutely,

Lisa Norton

 

 

DYSLEXICS UNTIE!

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Yes, I’m dyslexic. So is my son, sister, brother, and other family members. Where I’m more on the moderate to mild end, my brother and son tip toward the moderate to severe end of the dyslexia scale. Dyslexia is genetic and it has been estimated that 15% of Americans are affected by it.

What is Dyslexia? The Mayo Clinic defines,

“Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding). Also called reading disability, dyslexia affects areas of the brain that process language.”

Also from the Mayo Clinic, some common dyslexia signs and symptoms in teens and adults include:

  • Difficulty reading, including reading aloud
  • Problems spelling
  • Mispronouncing names or words, or problems retrieving words
  • Spending an unusually long time completing tasks that involve reading or writing
  • Difficulty summarizing a story
  • Trouble learning a foreign language
  • Difficulty memorizing
  • Difficulty doing math problems
Esher

Bummer man. What they don’t tell you is that a huge number dyslexic adults that grew up in the US educational system, believed they were stupid. Yet, dyslexic people are just as intelligent as the non-dyslexics. Dyslexic’s brains are just wired differently. I’ve been reading a lot about dyslexia lately and have found numerous articles online about the BENEFITS and the GIFTS of dyslexia. Yes!

Did you know dyslexics have a spatial genius, an ability to see patterns, and take in a whole scene far quicker than “normal” learners? In The Upside of Dyslexia by Annie Murphy Paul she wrote,

“in some situations, it turns out, those with dyslexia are actually the superior learners.”

Wow. Feeling a little validated there. Thanks Annie.

I’ve had many students that are thrilled at their ability to excel in quilting, confess to me they always thought they were stupid because they couldn’t excel in school. Taking a quilt class was a huge personal risk because of their academic history. The more students I met, the more I found students with dyslexia. I was quite surprised that dyslexia only affected 15% of Americans. It felt that I had at least 30% in my classes.

Annie Murphy Paul also wrote, that although people with dyslexia are found in every profession, including law, medicine and science, observers have long noted that they populate fields like art and design in unusually high numbers. 

Ah hah!! That’s is why my classes seems high in dyslexic quilters. We’re artists!

Echer quilt, 1997, by Ineke Poort (Netherlands)

If you’re a dyslexic quilter, you rely more on the diagrams than the written word. If the instructions are written, read them a couple times, even out loud. It will help. Or get your non-dyslexic quilting friend to help you figure out the instructions.

If you’re a non-dyslexic quilter, grab a dyslexic quilting friend when you’re laying out your blocks. She’ll be able to see the ones upside down or to help spread out the color placement of your blocks.

If you are one of those dyslexic adults that fear failing or cringe at the thought of critical teachers because of your scholastic history, shrug that off and take a class. Check out my class list here and check out the classes available at your local quilt shop. Remember, in some situations, it turns out dyslexics are the superior learners!

Absewlutely!

Lisa