Tu-Na Quilts: Wanta Fanta Blocks are Needed

I’m busily preparing to leave on vacation and just happened to see that I’m up for August to request a block. So this post will be short and sweet and scheduled. Well, maybe two out of the three.

I requested the Wanta Fanta Blocks last year when I was also in the Blossom Heart Bee but only received blocks from three of my hive mates (and 2 other blogging friends) so I’m thinking I need to ask for more of these so I can finish this quilt with lots of scrappiness.

This blocks consists of two snowball units and two X units. I thought I’d simplify this block and ask that you just make the units and not sew the units together as pictured above. Just trim each unit and mail. That will require less of your time and allow me to scatter your units around to create a more scrappy look. 

Pattern Location: The free Wanta Fanta pattern can be found here on Blossom Heart Quilts and more info about it here.

Colors needed:

Background: Please use either a solid white or white on white for the background.

Fabrics A, B, C, and D should all be a different orange fabric— any shade or tone except for peach.  I am going for a very scrappy orange look so anything goes such as solids and prints and batiks as long as orange is the main color. 

To make the snowball units:

Cut two 6.5″ squares from solid white or white on white.

Cut eight 2.5″ squares from orange fabric as listed above.

Directions:

Draw a diagonal line on the back of each of the orange squares and another one 1/2″ away. Place each orange square with RST on the corners of each white square.

 

Sew just a hair’s width on the outside of the line towards the corner.

Trim seam by cutting between the two stitching lines.

Press seam towards corner. It just seems logical.

Trim block to 6.5″ Please make two.

Here are those cute, little, bonus HSTs. Please include them in the mailing. You don’t need to press seams or trim them.

To make the X Units: Make sure your printer will be printing at 100%. Print out two pages of the paper pieced pattern included in the pattern link above. Measure the test box.

The pattern gives approximate fabric requirements but you could use scraps.

Lay paper on top of wrong side of orange fabric (printing should be showing on top) with fabric covering area #1 completely with about 1/2″ around it. Pin.

This is a bad example as my orange square is too close to being the finished size for the block. This is one of those “do as I say, not as I do” times.

Place this section on top of white or white on white fabric, again making sure you have plenty of fabric that will cover #2 area with about 1/2″ around it.

Reduce stitch length to 1.5. Sew on the line between #1 and 2 starting and stopping well into the seam allowance. I even sew right off the paper.

I should have continued this sewing line off the paper. This helps keep the seam from unraveling.

Fold paper back and trim seam allowance to 1/4″.

Press on the right side of the fabric (not on the side with the paper to prevent the ink from bleeding). Now lay this section on top of the same white fabric making sure you have plenty of fabric. Sew on the line starting and stopping well into the seam allowance. Even better, start and stop off the paper.

Trim seam. Press. Trim block to 3.5″ square.

Please leave papers on. Make 8.

No need to sew them together from here as I can spread them around to add to the scrappiness. Plus this is about all that you can get done in 1.5 hours or so.

Alternative for non-paper piecers: If paper piecing is not your thing (or your cup of tea), please make 2 additional snowball units and forget the X units.

What I Learned Today:

1. I do not know how to write up a post quickly.
2. I am very wordy.
3. I’m exhausted. I need a vacation.

Question: Where’s your dream vacation? We’re heading to see our new granddaughter in Michigan and then we’ll hop around Minnesota on the Shop Hop. By the time you read this, I should have already visited about 30 shops. But our big vacation comes later in the year when we go to Germany and Italy.

I’ll be watching for the mail, as soon as I get back from my trip. Thank you very much!

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

Tu-Na Quilts: A Woven Star for Jen

I started out last week thinking about using a different pattern for Jen’s bee block but at the last minute I saw this pattern and knew it would fit perfectly with her theme. Jen blogs over at A Dream and A Stitch but you can read Jen’s Bee Block request post here.

Jen asked us to make any block in any size using tertiary colors. I think these are tertiary colors. Well, I hope these are tertiary colors. She wants to make all of her bee blocks into mini quilts to hang in her sewing studio, her new one after she moves.

This block is called Woven Stars and is a free pattern from Stitch Supply Co.

You can find the free pattern here at the Stitch Supply Co.

Jen is moving to Montana. Since I’m from North Dakota, that makes us practically neighbors. So I feel the need to warn her about some of that wildlife she’ll find. Us North Dakotans know for sure that all of our deer come from Montana.

I’ve driven thru Montana many times and know that that little fact is true. They are everywhere in both of our states: on the roads, in the hills, in the gardens, in the woods, in the backyards, in the cities, and always around the next bend on the highway standing in your lane looking up at you as you drive towards them.

This block is 16.5″ unfinished.

I thought I’d include some deer in Jen’s block just to remind her to always be on the look-out for the deer and the elk and the mule deer and the antelope and even the moose because even in the dark they all look alike and make big dents in your car.

What I Learned Today:

1. Tu-Na Helper knows what a purple thang is! I was finishing Jen’s block as he came into my sewing room. “You’re using your purple thang,” he announced. And we both giggled. If you haven’t read my story yet about my purple thang, you can find it here.
2. Our apple trees are loaded with apples again this year. They are small and green yet.

Question: Have you been annoyed by a deer or other 4 legged animal? They sure like my roses preferring to eat them in the rosebud stage. They also eat tulips and asparagus and apples  and strawberries and even daylilies. They are always on our road and sitting in our apple orchard waiting for the apples to ripen. They’ve become so tame they don’t even move out of our way. Yes, we’ve discovered several times just how much damage deer and mule deer can do to a car. Let’s just say, it ain’t pretty!

If you enjoyed reading this and would like to read more of my adventures and even follow me so you won’t be left out, please see my blog Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats and subscribe by email, WordPress, or Bloglovin. I’d enjoy having you join my family of blog readers. 

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

Linking to:

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River

Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

WIP at Silly Mama Quilts

 

 

Tu-Na Quilts: The Dogs Have Arrived

All those cute little poodles that you sewed for me have safely arrived in Arizona. They were happy to be set free from their bag after traveling hundreds of miles by car. I am so relieved they didn’t need walking. 

 

There’s always one in every pack that wants to head their own way! 

 

You will notice that I received one from Wendy who blogs at Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life. She’s a follower of mine and asked if she could make me one, too. I believe Wendy’s is on the bottom right.

I’ve got them all labeled so I can identify them. Their names are so cute. They are all looking mighty spiffy!! And I think they all play so well together.

Thank you everyone for these delightful pooches! I’m thinking I will only need to make 6 more, probably all left facing and probably all with a dark background. I wasn’t able to have my other bee group make more of these poodles since it didn’t follow their 1.5 hour timeline. Although, I think only one of the blocks I sewed for that group finished within 1.5 hours. I will also be adding sashing and cornerstones.

But first I have to find Paige’s land fabric I brought with and then sew her up a couple of trees to add to her forest. It will be a beautiful quilt. And then I have to sew up a partial shelf of books for Emily. That will be sew exciting. I’m thinking I want to add something to that shelf too. Just not sure what it will be.

What I Learned Today:

1. I need to find a space to have a design wall in this Arizona house.
2. The day is still young so there’s still time to learn more.

Question: What’s a nice size for a generous lap quilt?

If you enjoyed this post and would like to read more about my journey or follow me, please visit my blog, Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats. Thank you for visiting Bee Inspired.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

 

Tu-Na Travels: Day Five in Paris and Prepping the Background Pieces

Today was the day of selfies. As I was looking at our vacation photos, I discovered more selfies taken this day than all the other days in Paris combined. Probably because we had to stand in line at the Palace of Versailles and the lines moved slowly.

The lines were long and we had to wait almost three hours to enter. Once inside the gate, we had to wait again to enter the Palace and once we were finished looking inside, we had to wait in yet another line outside to enter the palace grounds.

Here we are with King Louis XIV

and Marie Antoinette.

I could show you about 50 more of us, but since this is a quilting blog, I want to keep it at least a little bit about quilting. I wonder if you’d like to make a quilt for this bed?

Or maybe this one pictured below? The sign said “Queen’s Room.” So does that mean the one above is the King’s room? I don’t remember.

This is just a very small part of the grounds which included many ponds and fountains.

Here’s one of them.

After a long train ride back to our apartment, we dined on this light supper which included some fruit, a sandwich, some good and expensive cheese, paprika Pringles and, of course, some French wine.

What I learned today….dimanche, April 20, 2014

1. Do not go to the Palace of Versailles on an Easter Sunday. About a million other people decided to do the same. Lines were long and moved very slowly.
2. We did a lot of standing today: standing still, standing in line, standing around, standing and smiling—we never knew whose photograph we might end up on.
3. We did not see it all (Palace and grounds). We will have to come back.
4. French Kings sure knew how to live in luxury. The Palace and grounds were very beautiful.

Poodle Block Tips:

Part cinq (5): Prepping the Background Pieces

We will work with only five pieces for this part. But we are getting one step closer to being done. Aren’t you so excited? Don’t you just love the way I’m prolonging this block? Especially, if you are sewing along. No, really, I thought that by breaking it into manageable steps, it is doable for even the beginner sewer (or is it sewist?).

Sally refers to these pieces as “white” in her right facing poodle tutorial on The Objects of Design blog. Adding to the confusion for you, I will refer to them as background (just because it is less confusing for me and well, maybe for you, too).

Find the Above Back and Under Belly background pieces and two 1.25″ square body extra pieces plus one 2.75″ square body piece. (Note: This is one of the corrections from Sally’s tutorial as she asks for a 2″ piece but you will need to use the 2.75″.)

Now place one 1.25″ body square on the bottom left corner of the Above Back piece as pictured below.

 

Place a 1.25″ body square on the top right corner and a 2.75″ body square on the left side of the Under Belly piece as pictured below. Now flip those corners. (Draw a diagonal line, sew, trim seam to 1/4″ and press.) Refer to Part 3-Prepping the Furry Accents for a step by step explanation of how to do this if needed. The next four pictures will show you how to make a bonus block with half-square triangles.

I draw a line diagonally from corner to corner, and because I also don’t want to waste fabric, I draw another line 1/2″ towards the outside corner on these bigger pieces. I sew close to these lines, not on them but a needles width to the right of the line towards the corner. (This picture has been edited to show the correct corner to flip on that large square).

 

Then I cut between the seams (each will have a 1/4″ seam allowance).

 

 

After pressing the seams, I square my bonus block. This one will square to 2″. I love doing this.

And there’s my bonus block for another project! Did you make one too?

You may ask, “Why didn’t you do that on all the other corners we flipped?” Since I am a visual learner and you may be to, I thought I’d show you what happens. There is a point when it just doesn’t pay. And those small squares would only give you a block that squares to 1/2″ unfinished. Now I don’t have any sewing projects needing that small of blocks because there would be nothing left after sewing it as it would all go into the seam allowance.

There’s that little half -inch square. Cute but worthless.

After pressing all your seams, square the Above Back piece to 3.5″ x 5″ and the Under Belly piece to 2.75″ x 6.5″. Now stand back and admire your hard work.

 

This picture has been edited to show the correct larger flipped corner. If your piece doesn’t look like this one with these corners flipped this way, you’ll be needing to recut the pieces and reflip those corners. It took me a bit to discover this mistake.

 

That’s it for part 5. Coming soon: Part six (6) Building the Frame Around our Pampered Pooch. It’s coming along nicely.

Here are the previous poodle posts just in case you need to catch up to figure out what is going on this month at Bee Inspired. We’ve all gone on vacation—don’t we wish—to Paris. Well, maybe at least in our minds and imaginations.

Tu-Na Quilts: All Aboard. Fasten Your Seatbelts. We’re Taking Off for… You will find the pattern link for the poodle block in this post as well as why I chose this block.

Tu-Na Travels: Day One in Paris which includes Part un (1): Pattern and Fabric Selection

Tu-Na Travels: Day Two in Paris and Poodle Block Cutting Tips which includes Part deux (2): Cutting and Anatomy Labeling

Tu-Na Travels: Day Three in Paris and Prepping Those Furry Pieces which includes Part trois (3): Prepping the Furry Accent Pieces (Foot poofs, Tail, and Ear) 

Tu-Na Travels: Day Four in Paris and Prepping the Poodle Body Parts which includes Part quatre (4) Prepping the Poodle Body Parts.

Coming soon: Part six (6) Building the Frame Around our Pampered Pooch

What I Learned Today:

1. Pictures do not do justice to the beauty found in and around Paris.
2. Some things just have to be experienced.
3. Don’t waste my time making bonus half-square triangle blocks on every corner I flip. Only do the ones that would give me a respectable and useable finished piece.

Question: Have you visited a unique place where people live or lived? Where?

If you enjoyed this post and would like to read more about my journey or follow me, please visit my blog Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats. Thank you for visiting Bee Inspired.

Au Revoir

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

 

Tu-Na Travels: Day Four in Paris and Prepping the Poodle Body Parts

This was the only day it rained during our stay in Paris. After booking our tickets, we read to avoid going to Paris in April because it is their rainy season. But we found it to be beautiful then.

 

Day Four in Paris found us at the Museum D’Orsay but first we grabbed our usual French breakfast.

Nutella for breakfast!! It tasted so much better in Germany and Paris than here at home.

Maybe it didn’t take much to amuse us, but we found this huge jar of nutella fascinating. We spied it on the second level of the Eiffel Tower.

Speaking of large things, I couldn’t help but get excited at the things I found in the market across the street from our apartment.

We can buy celery at the grocery stores in North Dakota but not this big or with leaves. It looked so fresh.

Look at all the variety of tomatoes to choose. Here in North Dakota, we have two choices of tomatoes: expensive and more expensive.

No photography was allowed in the D’Orsay but we found other things in Paris to take photos to remember this day and give us a taste of what Paris was all about.

We saw many motorcycles in Paris, both parked and being driven. They even park them on the sidewalks.

There were many bike racks where one could rent a bike. We saw lots of bicyclists, too, weaving in and around the traffic.

We enjoyed seeing the beautiful architecture

and interesting buildings complete with rooftop gardens.

What I learned today..Samedi, April 19, 2014

1. Ten days in Paris will not be long enough!
2. I can easily ignore “No, you cannot buy anymore souvenirs.” How could I refuse making the apron purchase when the sales person decreased the price, added some potholders, and threw in a free keychain of the Eiffel tower?
3. Crepes with strawberry jam or Croissants and Nutella makes a good French breakfast. We finally got to breakfast on time downstairs–not at the McDonalds. The apartment offered breakfast on another floor at an extra cost.
4. Today at the Museum D’Orsay I heard a quote credited to Renoir, a French painter. “All I like is skin, a young girl’s skin, that is pink and shows good circulation.” That explains a lot of the paintings of nakedness and angel babies that we’ve seen.

Poodle Block Tips:

Part quatre (4) Prepping the Poodle Body Parts.

You’re probably discovering how handy these labels are and if you haven’t, you will.

Sally from The Objects of Design refers to the body pieces as “light” in her right facing poodle tutorial but here I will refer to them as body pieces to continue to add to your confusion. Well, I hope not, as I do find it easier when referring to them this way.

You will need the pieces marked as: Top of head, Nose, Body, Chest, and the two marked Foot. Set the Body piece aside for now.

You will also need 9 of the 1.25″ square background extra pieces. Sally refers to these as “white” in her tutorial. Lay a background square on the right corners of the Nose, the bottom right corner of the Chest, the top two corners on the Top of the head piece, and the right side of each of the feet (Foot) pieces as pictured below.

Now flip those corners. Draw a diagonal line–as pictured above, stitch, trim seam to 1/4″, and press towards the dark side for now. I go into this step in more detail in the Part 3 post.

At this point, I like to square the pieces:

• Top of head and Chest each square to 2.75″ x 3.5″
• Nose squares to 2.75″
• each of the feet (Foot) squares to 1.25″ x 2″

The last seams for this project right now will be adding a 1.25″ background square to the left of each foot piece.

Lay a 1.25″ background square on the left side of each foot with right sides together and stitch 1/4″ from edge. Press. Trim to 1.25″ x 2.75″.

Now stand back and admire your hard work.

We didn’t need to do anything with the piece labeled Body.

There’s these poodle body parts all pampered and prepped and ready for the next step. It won’t be long now and you’ll be hearing him or her bark. In fact, my husband thinks he heard a dog barking and we don’t have a real one, that is. After investigating, we found this in the mailbox from Jennifer, The Inquiring Quilter, from Indiana.

It’s beautiful!!! (Is it a she or a he?) Thank you, Jennifer! And also thank you for the three 1.5″ squares of these wonderful fabrics. They will make a nice addition to my postage stamp quilt.

Here are the previous poodle posts just in case you need to catch up to figure out what we are doing.

Tu-Na Quilts: All Aboard. Fasten Your Seatbelts. We’re Taking Off for… You will find the pattern link for the poodle block in this post as well as why I chose this block.

Tu-Na Travels: Day One in Paris which includes Part un (1): Pattern and Fabric Selection

Tu-Na Travels: Day Two in Paris and Poodle Block Cutting Tips which includes Part deux (2): Cutting and Anatomy Labeling

Tu-Na Travels: Day Three in Paris and Prepping Those Furry Pieces which includes Part trois (3): Prepping the Furry Accent Pieces (Foot poofs, Tail, and Ear) 

Coming soon: Part cinq (5): Prepping the Background Pieces (We are getting closer to done. Oh, no, I may run out of parts to sew before I run out of days that I learned things in Paris.)

What I Learned Today:

1. Everything is easier when broken into steps.
2. I haven’t eaten Nutella for a very long time.
3. My sons are very handy. Today, they installed two, LED, under cabinet, lights above my cutting mat and sewing machine. Of course, that meant that the sewing room was off limits to me for the day.
4. My husband was excited to see Jennifer’s poodle, too. I told him there would be more coming and I said, “Won’t that be fun?” to which he remarked, “As long as I don’t have to take them out for a walk.”

Question: How would you eat a Croissant? Nutella or Jam or ____?

Tu-Na Travels: Day Three in Paris and Prepping Those Furry Pieces

My husband announced this morning that he had been dreaming of puppies during the night. I am not sure if he is getting all wrapped up in my poodle excitement this month or if he is concerned after hearing my niece’s husband’s suggestion for those couples who are wanting to become parents but it’s taking a bit longer than they’d like—”go buy a couple of puppies.” Considering the options and the fact that the latter would indeed be quite a miracle, I’ll still go with the former thought.

A trip to Paris would not be complete without a visit to the Louvre.

We spent our entire third day in Paris there and thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the major and minor artworks on display. But the main reason I wanted to go was to get up-close and personal with Mona; the one and only Mona Lisa that is. 

So what if we are a bit blurry. We were excited to see her and were being bumped and jostled around by a couple of hundred people behind us who were anxiously awaiting their turn to be in front. This was as close as we were allowed to get. Look at all the glass protecting her. Mona, you make ME smile.

 

 

 

I’ve dreamt of seeing the original painting since my first college Art History class. I wanted to examine that painting and see if I could end the mystery of what was making her smile. I was impressed with seeing pictures of it and so very impressed after being there and seeing it in person.

 

Yes, we were waiting our turn to get closer. You can see her on the right waiting patiently for me.

 

After elbowing our way to the front of the line to see the painting, which is really much smaller than I thought it would be, I convinced my husband that we should get back into line so we could see her again. And we did.

This is the best pic we have of a close-up. It could be because of the thick glass in front of her (notice all the reflections of the people looking at her) or the fact that we are still at least 10 feet back although we are at the front of the line. Or maybe it’s just one of those “you’ve got to be there” moments.

 

Afterwards, we stopped at the café in this massive museum and enjoyed a real French quiche.

My head is hiding a very interesting French lady, You can catch just a glimpse of her by my right cheek. But the white-haired French gentleman (you can see him just above my coffee cup) was also interesting to watch and worthy of yet another story–some other time.

 

But the most interesting aspect of lunch was watching the lady sitting at the table across the aisle from us. I loved her colorful attire, the radiance surrounding her face, and her innocent smile. It’s very much like Mona’s. It makes me wonder what she is reading.

What I Learned Today..Vendredi April 18, 2014

1. Dreams can come true! I’ve always wanted to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre and I did…twice, elbowing hundreds of people for the front row. I had to look quick as my stance in the front only lasted a minute as we were shepherded away so those behind could take our place.
2. How to enjoy a delicious quiche: relax with some coffee and watch the people in the cute café in the Louvre.
3. How to get out of the Louvre’s lower level when all the exits appeared locked while trying to find our way to the metro at 9:30pm. Someone should tell them their signs aren’t pointing in the right direction. I’m not sure what happened to the other group of people in the elevator that I sent to another floor.
4. I had to go all the way to Paris to eat the best Italian food ever! It was only 3 Paris-size blocks from our apartment. I had asparagus ravioli, my husband had meatballs and spaghetti, and we shared Tiramisu for dessert.

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5. I’m missing Evelyn’s middle button on her coffee maker. It makes a perfect cup of coffee. (Evelyn is the mother of our exchange student who we visited and stayed with during our stay in Germany right before going to Paris.)

Poodle Block Tips:

Previous Posts (just in case you need to catch up to figure out what we are doing)

Tu-Na Quilts: All Aboard. Fasten Your Seatbelts. We’re Taking Off for… You will find the pattern link in this post.

Tu-Na Travels: Day One in Paris which includes Part un (1): Pattern and Fabric Selection

Tu-Na Travels: Day Two in Paris and Poodle Block Cutting Tips

Now onto Part trois (3): Prepping the Furry Accent Pieces (Foot poofs, Tail, and Ear)

Sally refers to these pieces as “dark” in her tutorial found on her The Objects of Design blog but I will refer to them as the furry accent pieces to thoroughly confuse you. So grab the tail, two foot poofs, and the ear and let’s get started.

You will also need 12 of the 1.25″ background-colored squares and 4 of the 1.25″ body-colored squares from your extra pile. See, I said we’d be using them soon enough.

Lay those 1.25″ background-colored squares right sides together on each of the 4 corners of both foot poofs, top two corners and lower left corner of the tail, and top left corner of the ear as pictured above. Lay 1.25″ body-colored squares on the other three corners of the ear.

Let’s flip those corners. Mark all these 1.25″ corner squares on all these furry accent pieces diagonally using your favorite method. See pictures below.

I lightly draw a line with a mechanical pencil on light colored fabrics or a white chalk pencil on dark colored fabrics. Some quilters fold these corner squares in half diagonally and press a sewing line but these pieces are quite small and I really don’t like to burn my fingers. Other quilters have marks, guides, or tape on their machine bed to guide them to sew a straight line. I’ve even seen an incredible laser light set-up to show a straight seam line to follow. Use what method works for you.

 

I’ve highlighted the sewing line as my chalk mark did not show up very well.

Do the same for both foot poofs.

Sew each of these diagonal lines. I sew just slightly to the right of the line towards the corner peak to give me that extra bit of fabric so my blocks don’t get too small. I love using an open toe foot so I can see.

 

Now trim all the seams to 1/4″.

 

Press seams toward the dark side—I still chuckle when I say that. This may have to be adjusted later when sewing the block together but for now press toward the dark.

 

After trimming all the seams and pressing, I like to square up the blocks.

The tail and foot poofs should be squared to 2.75″ and the ear to 2.75″ x 4.25″.

Now stand  back and admire your hard work. See that didn’t take so long.

Coming soon: Part quatre (4) Prepping the Poodle Body Parts—and a cute little body it is.

What I Learned Today:

1. Making step by step directions is harder and more time consuming than it looks.
2. It’s very easy to forget to take a picture.
3. It’s very easy to take blurry pictures when taking close-ups.
4. I admire all those quilt bloggers who write tutorials regularly.
5. This is good practice for me.

Question: You’ve read about my interesting Parisian lunch. I’d like to hear about a fun luncheon that you’ve had. Where were you? Who was with you? What did you eat? What did you see? 

Au Revoir

Karen

Tu-Na Travels: Day Two in Paris and Poodle Block Cutting Tips

On the second day of Paris, my true love gave to me:

A walk to the Eiffel tower during the day and another one at night,

and some great looking and delicious French desserts.

This was our first selfie we ever took. By the end of the trip, we would become better at it. My sister took many of our selfie pictures of our Europe trip and created a calendar with them which she gifted to us for Christmas that year.

 

We would hike that “your apartment is two blocks from the tower” route many times during our ten day stay. All I can say is that our travel agent has a different definition of two blocks than we do. Paris is a great city to walk around. While we bought an unlimited subway pass, we didn’t use it very much. We got lots of exercise.

I never tired of looking at the Eiffel tower. In fact, I think we walked past it at least twice daily and many days again at night.

Paris is filled with cute little pastry shops and yes we did our fair share of sampling. We often walked past the pastry shop close to our apartment and bought dessert for later.

This is a no-calorie picture but do wipe the drool from your phone or keyboard. Standing in front of this counter admiring the beauty and freshness, it would take me a long time to decide which dessert I would have. We often bought two different ones and cut them in half and shared. I think my husband suggested that as a way to decrease the time spent in front of this counter and increase the time spent elsewhere.

No trip to Paris would be complete without tasting some delicious macaroons which cost over 5 Euros a piece. I overheard a conversation between two women about where to buy the best macaroons. (Obviously, I missed something in the conversation as they also were the most expensive ones we found.) My husband and I were able to locate that place and do concur that they were good, but not as good as the ones my niece has learned to make.

What I learned today….Jeudi April 17, 2014

1. The word dessert is spelled the same way in English and French.
2. More things I miss about Germany…the amplemann (little man on the traffic light). When he turned red, all pedestrians stopped as fines are high to cross the street there. In France, it (walk/don’t walk lights) appears to be merely a suggestion.   Wurst (sausage). There are only four kinds here.   Bread. The baguettes here are good but the bread and rolls we had in Germany were excellent and had a nice crust.
3. Order tickets online and in advance to go to the top of the Eiffel tower. We waited in line for over an hour and a half this afternoon and when we got to the ticket counter, all of today’s tickets to the top were gone as they only issue so many per day. (Really, we were the first people they turned away that day.) We did walk up to the next level for a spectacular view of Paris. One lady told me she ordered her upper level ticket in September. We might try again but go earlier in the morning.
4. How to set my priorities straight when shopping for lunch at the food market across the street from our apartment. Grab a food basket and put in a bottle of French wine, then some really good and expensive cheese (because the cheese lady behind the counter didn’t speak English and thought I meant expensive rather than good tasting), and fresh strawberries. Finally, add some French pastries on top.
5. To ask Parlez-vous anglais (do you speak English)?

Poodle Block Tips:

Previous posts:

Tu-Na Quilts: All Aboard. Fasten Your Seatbelts. We’re Taking Off for…  You will find the pattern link in this post.

Tu-Na Travels: Day One in Paris which includes Part un (1): Pattern and Fabric Selection

Now on to Part deux (2): Cutting and Anatomy Labeling

(Sorry this post was delayed due to an important delivery I needed to make Tu-Na Quilts: We Have an Elephant Parade) and Tu-Na Quilts: ___’s Arrived!!!

I am using the Right facing poodle from The Objects of Design.

Cutting Tips:

• Use a cutting check list and labels. To help save some time, I made a cutting check list and labels for the parts of this block. I improved the one I previously  posted by adding label names (in red) onto the cutting checklist. So refer to the pdf and save yourself some time. Maybe it’s the teacher in me (ok. early childhood educator) or the quest to make things easier and simpler that keeps me coming up with new and improved ways to do things. You can download the labels and cutting checklist here Right facing poodle cutting checklist and labels
• Strive to cut accurately. This pattern calls for quite a lot of small pieces. I’ve had to learn the hard way when working with small pieces in other projects to insure that my blocks turned out the right size and not too small. The key, I found, is in accurate cutting….and using a scant 1/4″ seam when sewing.

When I cut, I line up the ruler making sure that the edge of the fabric covers the window (look at the arrows). It doesn’t seem like much but over several pieces and many seams, it can add up. Since I’ve started doing this my blocks are coming out closer to the sizes indicated in pattern directions.

Let’s Begin. It’s easy as 1, 2, 3.

#1. Cut the strips. Following the cutting checklist or Sally’s tutorial, cut the fabric into strips using the measuerements given.

I like to check them off as I go along which is why I like to print out a checklist. Here are all the strips laid out. Since I was using some fat quarters, I had to cut several lengths to get strips that would add up to the length of the measurements that were given.

I cut some 1.5″ squares for my postage stamp quilt right away.

#2 Cut the strips into pieces.  Following Sally’s tutorial or the cutting checklist, cut the strips into pieces. The new and improved pdf cutting checklist includes the label name to attach to the piece as it is cut. I’m thinking of ways to save you some time.

Here’s all the pieces ready to label.  So I had to follow the tutorial and measure them all again in order to put the label on. It was at this point that I thought, hmmm, there’s got to be a faster and easier way to label these than having to go and remeasure. So I came up with the idea of including the label on the cutting checklist so you can cut and label as you go.  

#3. Label the pieces.  Using the labels provided in my pdf, label right after you cut the piece and then set it aside. If your sewing room is prone to visits by little whirlwinds or small wild tornadoes or if you like to keep your windows open, I highly suggest pinning or clipping them on with Clover Clips.

There looks like a lot of pieces but once you’ve got them cut and prepped, it sews together quickly. Sally says in her tutorial that once you are done cutting you’ve finished the hardest part.

Note: Not all pieces will be labeled. All the pieces without labels are extras and used for the corners or will be sewn onto other pieces. It will all become clearer.

I’ve set aside the extra pieces without labels. I’ll be using them soon enough.

These labels were a hair saver for me. The first time I made the block, I came back from lunch and had to remeasure and figure out what was what and ended up cutting more pieces only to find them later. There was lots of hair-pulling going on as I wondered if I’d gotten in way over my head with this poodle block idea. So I thought making some labels would save both of us time and hair.

That’s it for part deux. Coming soon: Part trois (3): Prepping the Furry Accent Pieces (Foot poofs, Tail, and Ear)

What I Learned Today:

1. Reviewing the 4890 pictures of our Europe trip took much longer than I expected as my husband and I talked, laughed, and cried over the memories.
2. We thought the French macaroons were delicious until we tasted the ones made by our niece for her high school graduation last year. I don’t think she has any French heritage in her. I need to get her recipes.
3. We need to plan another trip to Paris; I better start saving.
4. I have no fabric will-power. I stopped at one of my local quilt shops yesterday and bought 28 yards of fabric at $6.99 per yard. All were current designs from great manufacturers like Moda, Robert Kaufman, etc. This seriously cut into plans for  #3 above.
5. I miss the little whirlwinds and small wild tornadoes that I used to have swirling about my house. They grew up and moved away much too fast.

Question: Have you eaten or made a macaroon? What’s your favorite dessert item? While I’ve never made a macaroon, I want to get my niece’s recipes and try. She made a strawberry macaroon that was absolutely delicious as well as several others that were almost as good. My favorite dessert is homemade Strawberry Shortcake. Yum!!! I think I will make some for dessert on Sunday. However, I don’t have whipping cream and a drive to the grocery store would mean I’d be going very close to that quilt shop again. Definitely a problem!!

Au Revoir

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

If you enjoyed this post and would like to read more about my journey or follow me, please visit my blog Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats. Thank you for visiting Bee Inspired.

Linking with Yvonne for Tips and Tutorials Tuesday

Tu-Na Travels: Day One in Paris

I set foot on Parisian soil for the first time in mid April of 2014. My husband and I were on a month long voyage to Europe with stops in Germany, Paris, and London. We had just taken the TGV train from Stuttgart to Paris. During my stay, I wrote in a journal about the things I learned and I want to share them with you.

This sign welcomed us at the TGV station in Paris.

 

But first a little story about some good-looking French men.

Our travel agent had secured an apartment for us two blocks from the Eiffel tower. I was so excited hoping that I could draw back the window drapes and have a view every morning of it.

There was construction happening at the tower. Part of the floor was being replaced with glass.

Anyway, after debarking from the TGV and dragging four suitcases (two for each of us) plus our personal packs (backpack for my husband and a large, very large purse for me), we walked to the subway station entrance so we could travel to that apartment. I peered down, down a very long steep set of stairs leading to the underground station. As I was about to start hoisting my two bags down all those steps, I heard a voice.

“Mademoiselle, S’il vous plaît.” He repeated it again. This melodic sound came from a tall, dark haired, good-looking, French man who was now standing right beside me.

O.K. So this is a recreation of the moment but those are the same suitcases, although a little more worn than then.

 

“Oui, oui, Merci,” I feebly uttered with the accent of a frog as he grabbed one of the suitcases and bounded down the steps. I stood at the top just watching him for a few seconds while another handsome French man grabbed the other suitcase and trotted down those steps as if he were moving on level ground.

I was still standing at the top mesmerized by what had occurred as my two suitcases were gently placed side by side at the bottom and the bearers quickly disappeared into the crowd. They had sailed past my husband as he struggled to navigate those steep stairs while heavily laden with more weight and bags than we should have brought.

I hoisted my purse on my shoulder and hopped down the stairs while my husband, mouth opened, looked up at me in utter amazement wondering what had just happened.

My first impression of the city was that young French men are very helpful.

What I Learned Today….Mercredi April 16, 2014

1. The TGV’s (train) top speed between Stuttgart and Paris was 320 kph. Do the conversion. It was a very smooth ride! We made the trip in 3.5 hours. No conversion needed.
2. How much I miss Germany: the clean cities, the quiet streets, the three-ply soft toilet paper.
3. I’m feeling 30 years younger. I had three hot French men in their 30s call me “Mademoiselle” and offer to carry my suitcases up and down the stairs at the train station. Of course, I let them!
4. One can’t always trust their travel agent. Our apartment 2 blocks from the Eiffel tower takes us 25 minutes to walk. Obviously it is more than 2 blocks. I wonder what conversion we should have used.
5. I can’t escape from McDonalds, Starbucks, Burger King, Ford and Chevrolet even in Europe! They’re all over. Our apartment is four floors above a McDonalds and there’s a Starbucks across the street.

I hope you enjoyed today’s little memory about my first day in Paris. I’ll be back with more as I have a hot date this afternoon with my sewing machine to make another French Poodle since, now after writing this, I’m feeling in the mood.

In addition to sharing some other Things I Learned during my Paris trip, I plan to pop in and out this month with some tips and tidbits about the Poodle block I’ve chosen. So if you are feeling like it is a bit over your head, rest assured more info and pics are coming. But if you are confident to tackle it on your own, go right ahead as I think most, if not all of you, are seasoned quilters and I’m probably doing this only for my benefit.

Part un (1): Pattern and Fabric Selection

I covered this on my first post so check it out here (Tu-Na Quilts: All Aboard. Fasten Your Seatbelts. We’re Taking Off for….) on the Bee Inspired Blog if you missed it. Basically, I am asking for blacks and whites. But if you have an elusive black with only pink/wine/burgundy/raspberry/white or white with pink/wine/burgundy/raspberry/black that might make a good body. Let me know if you have questions.

I wrote a post about the poodle block on my blog Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats and we are having a fun game naming groups of things. Did you know that a group of dogs is a pack or kennel and a group of giraffes is a tower? So pop on over here (Tu-Na Quilts: A French Poodle for Moi) to be part of it and comment with the name of a group of something. I wonder who came up with some of those names.

Here’s my fabric selection for this new poodle. 

The black with white flowers shown on the bottom left will be the background. The Zest for your nest (middle) fabric will be the body and the white with black swirls shown on the right will be for the furry accents of ear, foot poofs, and tail.

 

Coming soon: Part deux (2): Cutting and Anatomy Labeling.

What I Learned Today:

1. Memories are so sweet and pictures help jog it.
2. I miss Paris.
3. Maybe it’s time for a new set of suitcases. No, maybe not, as these have too many memories. Besides that, after one trip on the airlines, the new ones would be looking very close to these anyway.

Question: Have you been anywhere fun? Do you have a memory of that trip you’d be willing to share?

Au Revoir,

Karen

 

Tu-Na Quilts: All Aboard. Fasten Your Seatbelts. We’re Taking Off for…

Paris! Oui, oui, s’il vous plaît. Mes chers amis quilty, un voyage au beau Paris serait tellement merveilleux.*

I apologize for the blurriness. I was in a hurry as we were leaving to head north and remembered to grab a couple of pics. My husband took these pics and we had them made into prints. They are displayed in our guest room.

 

It was always a dream of mine to visit Paris. Three years ago, it became a reality. I thought you might like to go too.

I have a number of fun and funny posts planned for this month so I hope you’ll check back here often so you won’t be left behind.

My inspiration for my quilt block comes from several sources. I’ll share one now and another on another post. Early this winter my mom and I were shopping for fabric (well, we were just looking) and then I spied this.

It would be perfect for a quilt in our guest room in Arizona. So I bought all that they had which was about 2 1/2 yards because…why not? I think it would be perfect for the sashing.

“What kind of quilt are you going to make?” asked my husband (who is also lovingly refered to as Tu-Na Helper).

Since Velda had already taken my bird idea, I had to come up with another plan. So I looked closer at that fabric and spied this cute little poodle.

Do you see that cute little poodle? The background is bright white although it looks bluish here.

 

I don’t have a dog but if I ever did it just might be a poodle, a French Poodle. A French poodle block would be perfect to go with my Paris themed guest room.

 

I found this wonderful addition to our guest room at a thrift shop. In fact, the headboard, each of the two identical lamps, side tables, and the mirror with hooks as shown in the picture above were all found at different thrift shops.

 

I thought a French poodle quilt would add some whimsy and warmth to our guest room. So that’s going to be our block that I invite you to make for me.

Isn’t she adorable? Although, I think I’ll make it again and use the dots for the body and the swirls for the furry accents.

 

Pattern: You can find the tutorial and pattern for this adorable poodle here on The Objects of Design blog. You’ll be making the right facing poodle. I am also in Stash Bee Hive 9 and they will be making left facing poodles for me later in the year. 

Fabric selection: You will only be using 4 different fabrics (one for the background, one for the poodle body, one for the furry accent parts, and a solid black for the eye and nose). 

Background possibilities (referred to as White in the pattern tutorial): Please choose one fabric (not scrappy).

• white on white
• white with black
• white with dark gray
• black on black
• black with white

Poodle Body (referred to as Light fabric in the pattern tutorial): Your poodle should be the opposite color of your background. Here again, choose one fabric–not scrappy. Example: If you select a black background, then choose a white fabric for the body.

Body possibilities:

• white on white
• white with black
• white with dark gray
• black on black
• black with white
• white or black with pink or wine or burgundy but no other color except gold or silver (I don’t have any samples but thought I’d throw it out there just in case someone has something like that as I think it would make a great poodle body or furry accent.

 

American Made Brand Fabrics has a wine color (AMB 47 Light wine) that looks like it matches nicely (but then I am just looking at it online and not in person). I included it here to give you a color sample.

Furry Accent (referred to as Dark fabric in the pattern tutorial): Please select a complimentary fabric to your body selection. If using a white fabric, find one that is also white but has lots of contrast that will make it stand out or read as a darker version of your color choice.

Nose tip and eye: Solid black

My quilt will not be all black and white. The cornerstones will be pinks and wines and burgundy. There might be a pink or burgundy flange binding too.

Here’s some pinks and wines with one burgundy/gold that I have that I thought would make nice cornerstones. What do you think?

 

I am using the picture on the wall in that guest room for inspiration.

If you have a 4.5″ square of pink, pink/white,  white/pink, wine, or burgundy fabric that you’d like to include in the cornerstones, I would really appreciate it.  I would also love to receive a 1.5″ square of each of the fabrics (except the solid black) that you use in this block so I could include it in my postage stamp quilt.

Hints: I dabble in small pieces and there are a fair amount of small pieces in this pattern. To make things a bit easier for you, I made up some labels in the pdf below. Just print, cut them out, and lay them on the anatomical parts so you don’t get confused. Believe me, without labels, when you come back to your sewing machine after your lunch break, you won’t know the ear from the rear.

Clover clips help keep those labels in place

My next hint is to use a scant 1/4″ seam. Measure and trim as needed. The block will be 14″ unfinished.

Hint number three pertains to pressing seams. The block will be sashed so I won’t have to worry about nesting seams. However, I prefer the seams in the block to be pressed to the side, usually to the dark side (I just finished watching episode 1 of Star Wars so I couldn’t resist putting that in). But there will be times that doing so will make for a very bulky seam so you will need to watch for that and press in the direction that makes the most sense so as to avoid that bulk.

Lastly, read the tutorial through before starting. Note the corrections as I have listed them below. There are a lot of steps. But the poodle comes to life quite quickly once all the pieces are cut and prepped. I’ve prepared a cutting check-off list for you as I found that to be helpful for me and have included it in the pdf below.

Pattern corrections (these will make more sense if you locate the section in the tutorial and note it): 

Cutting Dark fabric: Cut one 2.75 by 4.25 rectangle rather than the 2.75 by 4.75

The caption of the picture that shows the squares for flipping the corners for the dark (furry accent parts) should read: For ear: (last line of caption should say) “on upper (not lower) left corner.”

When making the Under belly, the square should be a 2.75″ light (body) not 2 inch as listed.

When sewing the Lower left middle: sew 1.25 by 2 inch light (body) strip to shortest side.

Extras: One 1.25 by 2.75 in background rectangle with light 1.25 flip in lower left.

Here’s the pdf label and cutting chart for your convenience.

Right facing poodle cutting checklist and labels

Do check back again as we explore Paris together. I will show you pics of things I saw, tell you funny stories of things that happened to me (“Oh, why do things happen to me?”  Tu-Na laments as she touches the back of her hand to her forehead.), present more poodles as I sew them, and entertain you while you sew for me.

*yes, yes, please. My dear quilty friends, a trip to beautiful Paris would be so marvelous. (ok. This was from Google translate. My French vocabulary consists of oui oui and merci).

What I Learned Today:

1. What a muzzle is. I am not a dog person and had no idea so I had to look it up.
2. If it can go wrong, it will.
3. I miss being in Paris.
4. How to change my address in our address spreadsheet.
5. There is hope for me yet (regarding computer understanding).

Question: Have you been to Paris or anywhere in France?

Merci beaucoup. Au Revoir

Karen