Hi. I'm Mardie... I am addicted to fabric.

My story goes back a long time. I think I can blame my mother... you know the kind. She had a wall in the basement that had shelves full of fabric. I think her motto was, "The one with the most fabric, WINS!" She sewed our clothes. She braided rugs. She used a large loom to weave strips of wool into long rag-rugs that we sewed into an entire carpet.

Now, I have a room full of fabric... and machines.  I have fallen in love with quilting. Especially now that I am able to machine quilt to finish them. I started with my speciality, "Stitch-in-the-vicinity-of-the-ditch." Then my daughter encouraged me to try freestyle quilting. I loved it. Then, my husband gave me a "mid-arm" quilting machine! I think he loves me!

I am wife to 1, mother to 5, mother-in-law to 4, grandmother to 13 (on earth). We live in Little Rock, Arkansas. Three of our married children and 11 of our grandchildren live within 15 minutes of us. Are we blessed or what! Our youngest is a student at BYU-I and a daughter lives in Nampa, Idaho with her 2 boys and husband.

I also love gardening. I just took a tour around the yard today. There are daffodils up and some of our azaleas are blooming! The trees are budding. The grass is still brown.

I love music. I am the choir director at church.

I love traveling. We get the "itch" to travel often.

Being an active member of the Mormon church takes up the rest of my time.
   Now, let's hear from the rest of the group. Welcome to 12squared!

Mardie

Oregon trees for Camie

Can't wait to see your forest of trees!

em

The kids are on vacation all this week and next week, which means I have time to sew without feeling guilty.  No errands to run, no music lessons, no homework checking, aah, it's heaven.  So, I made up Camie's blocks.  They were so quick and easy, I didn't make any mistakes.  So I made up a fifth block! :)  I am picturing this quilt in my head, and think it will be very stunning and modern.  Can't wait to see it in person!

pine tree block

Hi ladies-
Thank you for helping me make this quilt. When I saw it I knew I wanted to have one for myself.  It seems very Oregon-inspired to me (found here):

My quilt will be slightly different because it will have all grey trees (again, Pacific Northwest inspired and will look great in my bedroom hung over a chair where you can look out the window and see plenty of pine trees).  I was hoping for different shades of grey but alas my Joanns only carries one true grey and in one shade.  I may need to shop around.

I am planning on using a beautiful grey/ecru fabric with doves that my cousin Emily (in this group) used in one of her quilts.  I am so happy to incorporate it and use it as the backing and in a quilt she'll be helping to make!


To make the blocks perfectly uniform, I'm going to have you paper piece the triangle block and make four of them for me.  I have already made all the trunks using strips of fabric which was super fast and easy so I didn't see the point in each of you taking the time to paper piece those pieces.

I'm going to need the addresses of our newcomers so I can send them their fabrics and pattern. I'll send those out asap. (I am sending a little extra fabric for everyone only because I've made mistakes on previous quilt blocks and have had to have people send me extra fabric...oops!)

Here's the tutorial:

This is the template you'll use to make the triangle block.

You'll place the gray fabric under the white paper template.

Place the ecru fabric under the gray at an angle so when you sew the line between 1 & 2 then press the ecru fabric open, the entire area 2 will be covered.  You might want to check to see if it will cover the area as seen in the next picture.

Here I've folded the ecru fabric so I am certain that when I sew on the line then iron open the area will be covered.

Sew on the line back-stitching at the beginning and at the end, please.  Fold over the white paper.  You'll be using the white paper as a guide to trim 1/4" edge as you'll see in the next picture.

Using your ruler, trim so there's a 1/4" seam allowance.

Iron open.

Now you're ready to tackle the other side.  Place the ecru under the grey so that when you sew the line between 1 & 3 then iron open, the cream will cover the entire area.

Sew on the line, back-stitching at the beginning and end, please.

Fold the paper back and trim at 1/4" seam allowance.

Iron open.

Using the white paper as a guide, trim around the paper.

You're almost there.

Turn your paper over.

Remove the paper from the fabric.  You'll be glad you back-stitched so you don't pull any of your stitches out.

You did it!

Since I knew I could use strips of fabric instead of paper piecing the trunks I went ahead and made all the trunks. (For my future reference, I used 1" strip of brown and two 2 1/4" strips of cream.  I cut across the strips at 2 1/4".)  I'll attach them to the four triangles you send me.

Tree in 2 pieces.

Finished tree!

If I missed anything please let me know!

XOXO,

Camie

Happy New Year, 12squared!!

Welcome to the new year of 12squared!

Welcome new members!

Welcome returning members!

Good Bye (for now) to members who are taking a sabbatical! We hope you will be able to come back in the future. 

For now, please continue to check in from time to time and share your current projects and to comment on what you see.

Our 12squared quilters and assigned months for 1216 are:

Camie McCullough-February

Mardie Tobler-April

Amy Charles-June

Emily Sigler-August

Valine Vikari- October

Emolyn Wilson-January 2017

With 6 members right now, we will take 2 months for each square. Camie has chosen a square for February. 

She will be posting the information and tutorial very soon. Thank you, Camie!!

Please let me know if your assigned month won't work for you.

As you can see, the main blog itself has not been updated with our new information. 

I will get that done when I learn how! I also need to find out how to give the new members access to the blog. But, for now, this should get us started for 2016! 

Thank you! 

Mardie

Amy c's books are overdue!

I told Amy I really wanted to finish her block! I hope it fits well with her quilt! I have always wanted to make a book quilt!

Then I made a Union Jack. Because I love London!

Polka dots for Amy G!

This one I have had cut and pinned for months! Ack!! I even missed my own month with everything going on! I'm sorry my friends!!

Tiny hearts

I am pretty embarrassed at how far behind I have gotten, but I'm trying to catch up and finish!! In the mail tomorrow and hopefully in time! I really thought I could handle doing this and having a baby. Then I also moved!

Becca's Peppermint Blocks

So, I meant to finish these blocks before we went to the States in October, but clearly that didn't happen.  I did finish them right after we got back, though, and they have been sitting there mocking me ever since.  In clearing off the sideboard in preparation for Thanksgiving decorations, I saw them once again and decided now would be a great time to send them off.  Hopefully you can still get your table runner done in time for Christmas!

And of course, I had to include a Swiss block. :)  Becca was my first friend when I moved here, and boy was I happy and thankful to have her.  She made the transition much, much easier!

Advice from a 1949 Singer Sewing Machine manual.

All I can say is that I am glad that I have a Bernina...you can sew when your house is messy AND when you, yourself are messy. 

In fact, the messier the better. Here's to sewing anytime!

Mardie