This quilt began as part of the Taste of Texas Shop Hop under the name of Seaglass. The quilting pattern company, Villa Rosa Designs, creates patterns just for the Taste of Texas hop and then once the hop is over, renames the patterns and adds them to their own pattern library. In this case, Seaglass was renamed to Panama City, so if you’re looking for it, go to the Villa Rosa Designs online shop and see it here.

The fabric I used for this beauty was a line by Sandy Gervais for Moda called “Well Said”. I adore the teals and oranges – it just screams happy to me. 🙂

The backing is Basic Grey Grunge “Seeing Stars” for Moda in the teal. Julie from Two Chicks Quilting in Ganado, Texas picked out the backing for me over the phone. How awesome is that for customer service?!!

The quilting pattern is a panto from Urban Elementz called Sea Creatures and you can find it by clicking on this link. The pattern is just too cute for words with octopus (octopi?), seahorses, crabs, and starfish. It stitched out beautifully.

WARNING! Quilt police, look away…

I used my favorite machine binding method.

I show how I do that in this video right here.

I’m happy to have this quilt finished. I almost wish I’d of doubled the pattern and made it longer to fit on my king bed at our coastal home. I’m “this close” to actually doing just that! That’s another beautiful feature of #VillaRoseDesigns patterns.

There have been some updates recently to the Quilt Butler software and it has become near impossible to find where downloaded patterns are landing if you’re downloading directly into the tablet. Most users are now just downloading the files to a laptop and using a USB to transport the patterns, which is a waste of time if they can be downloaded to the tablet itself after purchase. Here’s a step-by-step that worked for me.

On the tablet itself, upon purchase, click the Download link or button for whichever site you’re buying them on.

When the download starts, you’ll see a downward pointing blinking arrow in the very upper left corner of your screen.

When the download is finished, the arrow will stop blinking and there will be a little line under it.

Once the arrow has stopped blinking, swipe your finger from the top black part of the tablet down to the center of the screen to show recent actions. You want to start your finger where there are no menus or any buttons. This is a swipe navigation action that is native to Android.

In the cascading bars, find your downloaded file and tap it. In my case I’m looking for “sea-creatures_1-3.zip”.

The file will open up in WinZip. Tap the My Files folder in the left menu to see all the zip files. NOTE: I have created another file inside of the My Files folder that is called Quilt Patterns. You will not have this unless you press/hold the My Files folder to get another menu that allows you to create a sub-folder to it. You do not need to do this step.

You will see a list of your downloaded zip files. Press and hold (NOT TAP) the one you want to unzip and a blue menu will appear at the bottom of the screen. If you only tap the zip file vs. holding it, it won’t work.

Touch the Unzip icon on the blue menu at the bottom of the screen.

A new screen appears with the unzipped files and it wants to know where you want to save the unzipped files. Click on the My Files folder.

Again, I have a sub folder called Quilt Patterns that you won’t have unless you create one. You don’t need a sub folder. Once you tap the My Files folder, a blue button will appear at the bottom of the screen that says Unzip here. Tap that blue button (or put them wherever you might want).

Then go back into Perfect Stitch and go to the panel in the Butler to the Pattern Import area and click Import.

Press WinZip.

Your patterns that have been unzipped will be seen here.

Double tap the pattern you want to open up to see the sub files within it. Tap the file you need (I use the .qli file type) and click the green check box.

All done! It will automatically be assigned a tag of Imported and will always be found in your Imported tab when choosing a design file.

WHEW!

Since we’re all quarantined at home, let me take you to a quilt show!

Hi friends!

I just want to give you a heads up that I’ll be doing a Christmas in July sew along using the Brother Scan N Cut and Simply Applique (much like I did last year with Howl-Lelujah). The pattern is by the same company – Urban Elements and it’s a precious Flamingo in wooly stockings. How fun!

Here’s the pattern by itself. You can source your own fabrics or shop your stash.
https://www.urbanelementz.com/warmest-wishes-quilt-applique-pattern.html

And here’s the pattern with pre-cut fabric pieces with iron-on adhesive on the back.
https://www.urbanelementz.com/warmest-wishes-quilt-applique.html

You don’t have to have a Scan N Cut to join in. I’ll be doing both quilts – one using the Scan N Cut and one without. So I’ll demo both. In fact, you don’t need Simply Applique software either! You can certainly sew down the applique pieces the old fashioned way, but using the new technology is so fun and you will absolutely love it. This program is very inexpensive so I hope you give it a try!
https://www.allbrands.com/products/65662-brother-sabessa-simply-applique-creative-embroider

Here’s a link to the Scan N Cut DX125. It’s perfect for this project.

Can’t wait to get started! We start July 6, 2020!

Vicki from Creative Notions was so generous to give away two of her 2020 Maker’s Planners with my viewers. On my most recent video, I offered them up to those who made a comment saying they wanted the “planner”. The giveaway closed at March 25, 2020 at 5:00pm CST.

There were 274 unique entries with the word “planner” in the comment. There were over 300 comments but some people didn’t want to enter the giveaway.

From those 274 entries, I chose two random selections using the YouTube Comment Picker.

Winner #1 – Robin Brown

Winner #2 – Fleta Hall

Winners, please email me at powertoolswiththread@outlook.com with your address! Congratulations!!

I’m in the middle of making a YouTube video showing how to make a mug rug for St. Patrick’s Day using Kimberbell’s Seasonal & Holiday Mug Rugs, Vol 2. I know many of my subscribers don’t have (or don’t want ‘gasp!’) an embroidery machine so I thought I’d share a pattern for those who just want to sew one. This mug rug is based on a traditional log cabin block and can be made for any season or event just by changing the fabrics. It’s super easy!

Here’s the pattern. Just right-click (Cmd click) the image to save it to your computer and then print it. The only measurement on the pattern is the width of the fabric strip. You’ll trim the length to match the side to which it is being sewn after you stitch it.

This pattern starts with a 3.5″ square for the center. If you want to add a seasonal applique you can add it here. I’m using a 4 leaf clover that I grabbed from Google Images and resized to be 2.5″ so it will center in the middle square. If you want to use this one, again you can just save the image and print.

I used the manual method to trace the image to an iron-on called Hot Fix Adhesive as a backing and then ironed it to the applique fabric. I was all gung-ho to use the Scan-n-Cut (SNC) however I’m writing this blog post from our coastal home and when I brought my old SNC down here, someone (not moi’ of course!) forgot to bring along the power cord. Note to self: Pack SNC power cord for next trip.

I laid out my pieces to get a general idea of how to piece them.

The log cabin method is so easy because you just have to sew on one side and trim to fit.

I continued to add the pieces according to the pattern. Once the top was all finished, I cut out some of the beer mugs and a lucky horseshoe from one of the fabrics and ironed them on. Then I layered the top, batting, and backing to get it ready to quilt.

I quilted using a simple serpentine stitch using the presser foot as a spacing guide.

I turned it over to carefully trim away the extra batting and trimmed the backing to within 5/8″.

I did a double fold for the self-binding.

What do you think? Works great!

My buddy Lisa and I and our husbands trekked up to Austin, Texas with “Media Creds” to check out QuiltCon 2020. QuiltCon gets its name as a take off from Comic-Con which is where all the comic book groupies join up for a comic book convention every year – usually in LasVegas. So QuiltCon is a quilt convention but it is the quilt convention for the Modern Quilt Guild (MQG). You can read about the MQG here. This year, there were 1,600 quilts entered into the show to be juried and 432 were chosen to be judged. Sorry about image quality throughout this post. I snagged the pictures as screen shots while editing the videos.

My previous experience with QuiltCon is limited. I’ve read about it on blogs over the years and have come across posts where quilters have had quilts accepted for judging. I was very excited to interview the Executive Director, Karen Cooper, and come to find out, we live about 20 miles from each other. From what I could tell, she did an amazing job and the show itself was very well-organized and flowed very smoothly.

I loved the Welcome Quilt.

We saw some very lovely work at this show. This quilt took 2nd place in Piecing.

We also saw some quilts that were designed to shock. I guess that comes with the territory of the modern quilting movement. There were political messages and other themed quilts that were very “in your face” about the divisive issues of our time regarding politicians, guns, oppression, political anarchy, immigration…you name it. We saw it all including profanity delicately hand stitched and pieced into fabric. Beauty and art is in the eye of the beholder.

Here is a glimpse of the Best In Show by Peter of Toronto, Canada. This is a screenshot of my interview with him in front of his winning quilt.

This one took Judge’s Choice.

There were also some we saw with no message but just a work of art.

So that’s a glimpse of what we did yesterday. Today we are off to another quilt show in Brenham, Texas that I’m pretty sure will lean more to the side of “traditional quilting”. Happy Trails!

It’s been a busy start to 2020.  I’ve picked up a couple of quilting projects and started Ava’s Garden from Connecting Threads in queen size.  

For the fabric, I chose Fields of Blue by Moda for some gorgeous Bluebonnets in the Churn Dash blocks.  I’m about halfway finished with this beauty and I especially want it done before the Bluebonnets bloom here in South Texas next March.

It’s been about a year since I remodeled my sewing room and I’ve done some refinements along the way.  While I’ve purchased bits of garment fabric here and there over the past year, I’ve really concentrated my fabric habit into quilting and embroidery.  Garment fabric has been removed to another room and space has been made for the Brother Luminaire that is on loan to me from #Allbrands.

I’m busy setting everything to rights around the room so I’m ready for a full-blown sewing room video tour I’m going to do this weekend.

I thoroughly enjoyed using the Luminaire with Simply Applique to make the Howl-lelujah quilt last December.  My next venture with that fabulous machine is to stipple around the applique pieces on the Safari Way-to-Grow wall hanging from Urban Elementz.  

I’ve seen videos where the Luminaire can, after scanning in the hoop, create a “stamp” around a shape, thereby creating an outline around the shape.  Then I can fill the empty space with a stipple to fully quilt the wall hanging using the embroidery machine.  I look forward to figuring this all out and sharing it with my YouTube viewers as well.

My next “First” will be attending QuiltCon in Austin, Texas on Feb 20.

I’ve never been and I’m interested to see if there is a different “vibe” from the Houston Quilt Festival.  The world of Modern Quilting is foreign to me so I’m excited to go to Austin to see what it’s all about.  Of course, I’ll be taking you along with me and will video my entire trip!

And last but not least, hubs Keith has started prepping for his retirement by re-engaging in his passion of woodworking. First off the lathe are custom acrylic and wooden seam ripper/stiletto combos. They, along with other fine sewing tools including ruler racks, sleeve boards, and tailor’s tools, will be in our Etsy shop soon!

What an amazing year this has been! I find it hard to believe I began this blog 5 years ago. Over the past 5 years I’ve had successes, I’ve had fails, and all along the way I’ve learned what an amazing group of people that quilters and sewers are. Whether you’re in the industry or a home quilter/embroiderer/sewer, you are an incredible group of people!

The beginning of 2019 found me expanding my social media presence and starting up my YouTube channel and oh my…what a response you have given me! In just the first year, I’m almost to 8,400 subscribers! I owe all of that to Joy Bernhardt (above) for her unfailing support to me and encouraging you to visit my channel. That’s hard to believe (that you’d watch) when it’s only been a year. I truly appreciate each and every one of you. I’ve loved meeting you at shops, quilt shows, the Houston Quilt Festival, and at retreats. I’ve loved doing the giveaways and receiving your leftovers for those of you who are downsizing and passing them forward.

It is so meaningful to me when I do a “Come Along With Me” video and I hear from so many of you that you can no longer get out to shop in the stores any longer and so appreciate the tour because “it’s just like you were there”. Maybe you don’t drive any longer, maybe you’re a full time care giver, or maybe your health doesn’t permit you to get out as much as you would like. It means the world to me that I can help you continue to visit quilt and sewing stores and shops. Or maybe you’re looking for a new shop to visit on your next outing! Road trip!!
https://youtu.be/Dxv4QGmFMzI

2020 is already full of new and exciting things for Power Tools With Thread. I’ve begun a collaboration with Designs by JuJu and I’m so excited to begin to share Julie’s adorable embroidery designs. I’ve also begun collaborating with Creative Notions Quilt Shop monthly subscription where Vickie will provide me the latest and greatest quilting fabrics and notions that I can share with you. I especially love her Kids Box that is full of creativity and designed to get the littles away from a screen and allows you to share your love of stitching with them.

There will be a lot more tutorials and quilt/sew-alongs too. I just love to teach, but not only that, I love to learn from you as well. There’s not a single video I put out that I don’t learn a thing or two from your comments. Many of you know my ‘day job’ is in computers and I so enjoy sharing the new technology with you that can make your life in your sewing room sew much easier!
https://youtu.be/CBYfaaNruyY

I will continue to do classes and events with Allbrands and Designs in Machine Embroidery. I also have lots of shop spotlights planned for the new year as well in my travels. My husband is retiring in April 2020 and he says he has plans to be ‘my bus driver’ to take me around to all my quilting and embroidery excursions. I’m so blessed that he supports me the way he does.

He also has plans to begin to make custom sewing tools that he will make in his woodshop. Be on the lookout for a Power Tools With Thread shop on Etsy (or the like) for fine handcrafted tailor’s tools, sleeveboards, ruler stands, etc. Here’s one he made me for Christmas a few years ago. He couldn’t believe I filled up that day! Well duh! lol

As I type this, we are on our way to Manhattan, KS and we are nearly to our destination. Again, I thank you for your support, your likes and chat in the PTWT Facebook group, your loves on Instagram, and your YouTube subscriptions. I want to wish each and every one of you a very blessed and Happy New Year and I can’t wait to continue our stitching journey together!