Tag: Featured

Ornaments

Snowman Ornaments!

pamelapandolfi

These smiling snowmen are adorable! They make great gifts for a child to hang on the tree or bring a little cheer to a special person in your life!

Price is $20 each which includes shipping. Made from a foam base, fabric, ribbon, beads.

If you have any questions or would like to make a purchase, please message me.

Thank you for reading my blog and supporting my small, local business!

Featured, Uncategorized

How to Adjust Your Face Mask

pamelapandolfi

It has been brought to my attention that some people may not know how to adjust the elastic on their mask for a custom fit. Below is a link to the CDC Guidelines of how to wear a mask. It has some great information.

Cdc guidelines for how to wear a face mask

The masks that have the elastic can be adjusted easily by tying the elastic for a custom fit. Here’s a video I did to show you how to do that:

Wow! My hands look awfully dry and old!!!!

I make the double fabric masks with flannel on the inside and elastic to go around your ears. There are three sizes that you can choose from to help fit your face perfectly. Please click on the link below to see the sizes available.

Painted Face Masks

Please make sure you like this page and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me!

Stay safe and healthy!

art quilt, Event, Featured, memory quilt

My Virtual Craft Show!!!

pamelapandolfi

At 6pm today, I will be live on my Facebook page showing all the items I have been making through the quarantine so far.

Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/events/646125319349205

Below are some of the items I will be showing and ready to sell. I will be talking about my custom items as well and some will be great Holiday gifts!

You can shop at my Etsy store if you are ready to right now!

Hope to see you there!

art quilt

Updated Etsy Shop!

pamelapandolfi

Hi Everyone! I am excited to share with you that my Etsy shop: sewwon.etsy.com is up and running. I have a few items on there now and will be continuing to add art pieces as they are finished.

You can also find this shop by going to my home page and clicking on quilts to sell.

Please share this site with your friends.

Thank you so much for sharing my blog and my shop!

art quilt, For Fun, Uncategorized

Emotions

pamelapandolfi

We are all in the same boat with this novel virus. Today, my emotions are getting the best of me. I want to share with you how I handle emotional days. (Not that I’m an expert)

To date I have made about 600 masks. Some are donated and some are sold. Some of you have donated extra money which I have contributed to Buffalo Resilience ($380).

As I work on the masks, I am praying for the health of the people who will be wearing them, all of the essential employees, first responders, and any people who have contracted the virus. These are heavy days for all of us.

So, I find my happiness comes from my art quilting. I am making little art pieces (which are for sale). Today I’m going to continue on a piece to help me get focused again.

Elephant

I have to find about one hour per day to do my art which will bring me peace. Some days it may be half of the day or all day just to give myself some peace and happiness.❤️

If you find that you are struggling emotionally in these times, do something that makes you happy for a portion of the day! Please share with me what makes you happy!

Dog
Flowers

Above are a couple of art pieces I have done. Please contact me if you would like to purchase them.

Until next time, stay safe and healthy.

Peace.

art quilt, Featured

Keeping Busy!

pamelapandolfi

Since I posted last with my wonderful plan of projects to do, I saw on the news that masks are being made with cotton and flannel. I was all over it and started making them like there was no tomorrow! To date, I have made over 300 masks and still going.

I was making them at a rate of 50 per day which totally wiped me out, energy wise. I realized I needed (actually craved) my art quilting and time to be creative.

So, today I did a piece that is a quick “sketch” in thread, painted, and put onto a frame. It helps me get focused on the masks more.

Size: 5” x 7”
$20

I will be doing some small pieces like this to keep my creativity (aka: my happy place) flowing while still helping during this crisis.

They will all be for sale. If you would like to purchase one of these pieces, please message me. Also, if you have an idea of a subject to sketch, please pass it along to me.

Thank you for reading my blog. Stay safe and healthy!❤️

For Fun

Planning and Working!!

pamelapandolfi

I can’t believe that it’s been sew long since I have written! I have been busy with many projects. So far, I have done 2-1/2 quilts (pictures are below), 2 technique blogs, planning on some paper pieced table runner classes, and my usual–babysitting!

Today was a pajama, work day for me. I am working on a paper piecing quilt that is a raffle quilt for the Twin City Quilt Guild which I am apart of. In listening to the news today, I figured I’d better make a list of all the sewing/quilting projects I have to do. Some are jobs, some are gifts, some are competition quilts, and others are just learning and refining my skills. I think I’ll be busy for a few months or sew!!

This pandemic has made me think of my grandmothers. They lived through the Great Depression and I had many blessed years listening to their stories and seeing how they learned how to be frugal and resourceful. I see how people are hoarding items especially paper items. What would my grandmother do? They didn’t have all of the paper goods we have now. I did not have to think too long to figure out what our household would do if we ran out of paper goods. I have a stash of fabric for a reason!

Hope this brings a little brightness in your day! May you stay safe, healthy, and enjoy your life!

Peace –

Pam

Skills and Techniques

Machine Stitched Binding Technique

pamelapandolfi

There are many ways to do a binding that are good. I want to share the techniques I use for creating and sewing binding. This is for the big queen (almost king) size quilt. I encourage you to research a bit and find as many different bindings as you can and try them on a placemat size quilt. This way you know what feels comfortable to you.

In my art quilts that are small, I cut strips of fabric that are 2″ wide. For this project, I cut them 2-1/2″ wide just to be proportionate. When cutting your strips, make sure you cut them salvage to salvage or it is sometimes called width of fabric (WOF).

You may be asking “How do I know how many strips to cut?” Here’s the formula I use:

  1. Measure the top or bottom and one side. For this example, let’s say that the quilt is 50″ x 50″. There are 4 sides to a quilt. The equation would be: 50″ x 4 = 200″
  2. Measure the width of your fabric. (In this example we are using a 40″ width.) Take the 200″ and divide by your width of fabric (40″) to equal 5 strips of fabric need to be cut. (I usually add one more strip for extra).
  3. Take that number of strips needed and multiply it by the width of each strip desired. For example: 5 strips x 2-1/2″width = 12-1/2″ of fabric needed for this binding.

Now you have all the fabric you need and the strips cut. It’s time to sew the strips together.

2-1/2″ strips cut for quilt.

These strips need to be sewn together. I sew them at a 45 degree angle. This will disperse the bulk of the fabric in the seam allowance as to not create bulky spots on the binding. If you are a beginner, I encourage you to mark and pin everything until you are comfortable. The directions are under each picture.

1. With the wrong side of fabric facing up, place the 45 degree angle on the short straight edge of the strip and move the ruler to the bottom corner of your fabric strip.
2. With the ruler still laying down as it step 1, mark the line.
3. Place a second strip perpendicular to the first strip with right sides facing together. Be sure to line up all the edges, pin on either side of the line and sew directly on the line.

The previous 3 steps are for beginners. The next is for more advanced and using the markings on my machine.

1. Over lab two strips with right sides facing each other. This time don’t line up the edges. Off-set the edges a little bit to create tiny 90 degree angles as shown above.
2. Place the top 90 degree angle to the needle and under the presser foot. Then use the bottom 90 degree angle to line up at the center needle mark on your machine. (Not all machines have this mark. Bernina’s do have it. You can put tape or a mark on the extension table that mimics the line I use.) Sew from the point of one 90 angle to the other 90 degree angle. I like to chain stitch the strips all together.
3. After all of the strips are sewn together, I cut them apart and cut off the point, leaving more than 1/4″ of the fabric for seam allowance. I do use scissors in this case because accuracy in cutting at this point will not make a difference in my opinion.
4. Press the seam allowance open and press strip in half with wrong sides together, creating a 1-1/4″ strip.
I tend to roll my binding strip as I go to keep it neat.
5. Sewing the binding onto the quilt. I start by sewing the binding onto the back of the quilt. I stitched a scant 1/2″ seam allowance and checked it by folding the binding over to the other side of the quilt and making sure that the folds meet up and cover the stitch line.

Leave 6-8″ of the binding free and start sewing onto the back of the quilt.

The above slide show has step-by-step photos of how to fold and sew the corners and I explain it below. I wanted to give you as many photos I could to help explain what is hard to explain in words.

1. Stop sewing 1/2″ before the edge of the quilt. (second photo)

2. Fold the unsewn part of the binding back at a 45 degree angle and finger press. (3rd photo)

3. Fold the unsewn part of the binding back lining up the raw edge of the binding to the raw edge of the quilt and leaving the fold along the first raw edge of the quilt that is already sewn (6th photo)

4. Starting at the edge of the quilt where the fold is, continue sewing that scant 1/2″.

5. Repeat these steps and stop 6-8″ from where you started sewing the binding.

Joining the binding is another tricky spot. Once again, I am providing a bunch of similar photos to help to understand the written directions below.

  1. If necessary, trim the loose end on the left so that it falls approximately in the middle of the open 6-8″. Lay it flat against the edge of the quilt and pin. (2nd photo)
  2. Use a scrap piece of the binding (about 2-3″ long), open it up and pin the scrap piece on top of the already pinned binding. Line up the long edge of the scrap binding to the end of the already pined binding. Pin the scrap on the left side. (3rd photo)
  3. Lay the right side of the unsewn binding over already pinned binding from step 2. (4th photo)
  4. Fold the top piece so that the fold is matching the edge of the scrap piece underneath (5th photo). Finger press.
  5. Unfold that top piece and cut on the fold. Unpin everything. (both of the pieces are suppose to over lap at this point for sewing room)
  6. Lay the edges of the binding facing together and open up (wrong side of fabric facing up).
  7. Pick up the edges slightly and match the edges together (the quilt will seem to be shorter, just push it out of the way).
  8. Rotate the end on the right 1/4 turn away from you. The ends are now at a 90 degree angle from each other. Line it up the same way when the strips were joined together. (The right side strip can be marked at that 45 degree angle if you wish to have that line)
  9. Pin on both sides of the “to be” sewing line. (Tip: the binding strips are at a 90 degree angle and you will be sewing across to form an “A”.)
  10. Sew ends together
  11. Unpin and check to make sure the sewing was done right by folding the binding in half lengthwise (the way it will be sewn to the quilt). It should lay flat. (photos are in the below slide show)
  12. Open up and trip the corner, finger press seam open
  13. Continue to sew the unsewn section of the binding.
  1. Roll the binding over to the right side of the quilt. It should be snug around the edge and slightly covers the previous stitching. (6th photo)
  2. I use a foot with a flange to help line up the binding when I fold it over. I also move my needle to position 2 to the right. (photo7)
  3. When I get to the corner, I pull out the binding on the other side of the quilt and this should create a 45 degree angle on the right hand side. I continue to sew straight to just about 1/4″ from the edge of the quilt. (photos 11 & 12)
  4. I rotate the quilt 1/4 turn, fold the binding over aligning the corner to the previously sewn binding, and continue sewing until completely sewn around.
  5. Whew! Lots of information!

Thank you for reading my blog! Hope you try this method on your next quilt.

Have a wonderful day!

Pam

Featured, For Fun, What’s Happening?

What’s Happening!

pamelapandolfi

Happy New Year everyone!!!🎊🎉

I’ve been working on the wedding quilt for my son and daughter-in-law over the past couple of weeks. I’m happy to say……I’m almost done with it!!!

I used a cotton and wool batting for the first time and I like the results. I did learn that I probably needed to pin baste closer together to avoid fabric shifting (like every 2-3” would have been perfect). It turned out nice and has a good weight to it! It will keep them warm for those winter nights!

I’ll be finishing it this weekend by squaring it up and binding.

That’s what’s happening! Thank you for reading my blog. I will be doing some quilt tutorial blogs in the near future. Please tell me if there’s anything you’d like to see!

Have a wonderful day!

Featured, organizing sewing room

Starting 2020 with New Adventures!

pamelapandolfi

As 2019 ends and 2020 begins, I can’t help but reflect on the past and make plans for the future. I have been blessed this year to have several teaching occasions to share my quilting journey and knowledge with eager fellow quilters! Met some wonderful people and made new friends in this wonderful quilting world.

I look forward to making more competition quilts this year and currently have 2-3 in mind (we will see how many I can complete by the end of 2020). Entering them into AQS shows, International Quilt Show in Huston, as well as Quilt Consortium of New York State.

I will also be continuing to teach wherever I can. I will be updating my event calendar soon so you will all know what’s happening.

Also, I have started a new adventure that I expect to take a few years to accomplish. I am beginning to study to become an AQS Certified Quilt Appraiser. I have already started to read books that will increase my knowledge of fabrics, history, patterns, etc. In April, I will hopefully be able to attend the appraiser class at AQS Paducah for more knowledge of the “steps” I need to do to accomplish this certification.

My collection is 132 books on quilting, sewing, crafts,running a creative business, and fine art!

In preparation for a bunch of books being added to my current library, I am organizing all of my books. Here’s how I am doing this: I used Numbers in my iPad to start my spreadsheet.

There are a few general subjects in my collection: Quilting, General Sewing and Crafts, Craft Business, and Miscellaneous. (Column #1)

List sub categories: (ie: Under Quilting would be History, Free Motion, Techniques, Patterns, etc.) (Column #2)

Column #3 would list the title of the books

Column #4 lists the author(s)

Column #5 lists a brief description of the book

Column #6 has a note if it is borrowed from someone

Column #7 lists if the book was loaned out and to whom

I will definitely keep all of you posted on this journey!

May you have a very blessed and happy New Year!

Thank you for reading my blogs!