Sunday Stretch #24 Frog

We spend so much time sitting in chairs or on couches here in the West and not sitting on the floor where our hips can rotate healthily in our hip sockets, that our hips lose their range of motion.  Our hip joints are the largest joints in our body, so lots of tightness happens here from this lack of rotation. There are lots of issues buried deep in the tissues of these joints too. Hip and knee replacements in the West are off the charts, especially as compared to those in the East. Living on the floor is a good thing!

Even if you can't quite get to the full pose of Frog, spending some time in Tadpole will most definitely help tightness in your hips. I have the cutest model for this pose for you today!

Benefits of this pose

• lovely pull along the inside lines of the legs, which is where the Liver, Kidney and Spleen meridian lines run (acupressure points for these energy lines)
• works deeply into the groin, and adductors
• there is a slight backbend, so good for the low back, especially after sitting hunched over a sewing machine or cutting fabric for long periods of time
• if your arms are outstretched, this stimulates the upper body meridians: the Lung, Heart, Small and Large Intestine energy lines; also a lovely stretch across the shoulders for same reasons as previous bullet
• aids in digestion
• helps to relieve cramps, both menstrual and digestive

Getting into the pose

It's best to get onto a yoga mat or a quilt, even a couple of quilts, or a folded quilt beneath your knees. This provides padding and helps the knees gently slide apart as gravity works its magic! Brady has a quilt I made for Brianne 11 years ago (before he was born!) doubled up and then his Halloween quilt I made him folded under his knees for extra padding.

Tadpole or Half Frog

Spread your knees apart as wide as they will go with just a slight tugging feeling. Keep your toes together. Stretch your arms out in front of you, draping your chest towards the ground. You can roll another quilt up under your chest if you like to rest on, or, if you have just eaten or want to relieve cramping in the lower abdomen, allow your belly to hang suspended. This is great for aiding digestion but also helps relieve cramping. Stay here for 2-3 minutes. 

If you'd like to go into the full frog, go to this next stage first. Raise your hips so that they are directly over your knees. This increases the backbend in your lower back. See if your knees may like to come further apart.  If you are okay here after several breaths, then proceed to full frog. You can't quite see how Brady is resting his forehead on his right forearm, but you can see his left arm fully extended.

Frog

Turn your feet out, Charlie Chaplin style. Allow the knees to slide apart, letting gravity do the work. Your job is to surrender to that pull, relaxing into this intense tug.  However, as Bernie says, you want to feel sensation. Do not make it sensational! 

If your nose gets squished (ask me how I know this) or it is too intense to rest on your chin, then rest your forehead on a forearm. Just be sure to switch arms part way through. The tug you get along the backs of your arms, into your shoulder blades, and in the lower back to some degree, is quite delicious. And then there's the pull into the groin and hips. Lovely. Stay here for 3 minutes or more, breathing slowly in and out through your nose, keeping relaxing as much as you can to get into the connective tissues.

Now.  How to get out?!

Easy.  Just slide forward onto your tummy.  Extend one leg at a time by tucking your toes under, lifting the kneecap to straighten the leg and pushing into the heel. Do the other leg. Be still and feel.  It can be fairly intense.  You may want to groan as you come out!  But. Notice. Breathe.  Then maybe rock over the pelvis a few times, or bend your legs at the knees and wave the lower limbs back and forth windshield wipers style to release.

Remember you can find tons and tons more information on Frog and all things Yin Yoga at Bernie Clark's website, Yin Yoga.

DrEAMi! Linky #9

I was thinking that since I started these Drop Everything And Make it! linky parties, I have not had as many of those squirrel moments... Is it possible I am getting more focused and having less quilter ADD?!

Well, this month, I did have a moment, but it wasn't something catching my attention; I was actually asked to divert my attention! I got asked if I could whip up a mug rug for a blog hop with a tight deadline, showcasing Amanda Murphy's new line, "Winter Games" for Contempo, a division of Benartex Fabrics. Getting to pick eight fat quarters to use for the mug rug was too sweet a temptation not to rise to the occasion. So I dropped everything, well, the main thing I was working on, my mum's quilt, and followed the trail of this fun squirrel:

I sketched a few ideas, but the original one just stuck, a nod to the quilt on the cover of Amanda Murphy's book, Modern Holiday. I called this mug rug, the Leaning Tree Mug Rug.

I did a test mug rug to see if my free-form cutting of a tree shape would work, and yep, it did. I tweaked a few measurements, and cut into the fabric, and in no time at all I had not one...

but two mug rugs, thanks to a stack, whack and shuffle method developed by Karla Alexander.

They measure approximately 6” x 9". I went to town quilting them, using several different colours of Holoshimmer and metallic threads by Sulky.  You can find the tutorial here.

Last month:

Anja was entranced by two squirrels, this wallet and a cute drawstring bag

A granddaughter requested...so a granddaughter is indulged! Janine dropped everything to honour that request.

Patty whipped up this terrific Halloween quilt - you have to check out her fabulous quilting!

This. I have such love for Preeti's squirrel moment. What a beauty.

Ah the temptations! Thank you so much for sharing these.

So it's your turn! Link up whatever project tickled your fancy this past month. Be sure to check out some distractions of other quilters. We kindred spirits need to support each other in our oh-so-bad, but oh-such-fun habits!

I Like #9

My aim is to do one of these a month, yet it amazes me how fast that time comes around. I could probably do these at least twice a month as almost daily I find myself mentally noting, or actually photographing something for which I am grateful. Although I actually started writing this a couple of weeks ago, it is a day late because yesterday was travel day, which brings me to my first like.

1. I like Visa cards that give points. Since I first learned of the Aeroplan programme in 2004, I've collected points like a fiend, and have gotten many trips. Today, I am typing from the living room of Brady's house! I especially like getting great connections when travelling on points.

"Winter Games" Blog Hop

I was super-excited to get to work with Amanda Murphy's fabric line "Meadow Dance" last month (heard in her newsletter today that it is sold out and being reprinted!) and then... to get to work with her next line, 'Winter Games' in my new favourite Christmas colours?  Over the moon!

Isn't that such a perfect winter print? There was no question that that was one I'd pick for using in my mug rug. Mittens with strings, how I always wanted a pair, thought it was so cool that you could just let them dangle, and even toques, which, as I said on Sew In Love With Fabric blog, rhymes with 'Luke' and is Canadian for a woolen hat just like those on the fabric.

Here is what I made:

The technique used will yield two mug rugs,  that you can whip up in a few hours. I like that!

First of all, I got the idea for the mug rug from the cover of Amanda's book, Modern Holiday. I've wanted to make that quilt for EVER. This book turned me onto fresh Christmas colours.

I've made free-form cut triangles before, along with several other shapes, thanks to Karla Alexander's Stack a New Deck book, so I figured I could do this without any paper-piecing or templates.
So let the games begin, shall we?

Leaning Tree Mug Rugs

Yield: 2 mug rugs 6.5" x 9.5"

Fabric Requirements
8 fat quarters in coordinating colours, or scraps, but note that the scraps need to be about 8.5" square for the large tree block.

Mini Trees
1. Cut four rectangles approximately 4.5" wide by 3.5" tall.
**Note that you will make four tree parts at once by stacking these four squares and making two slices with your rotary cutter. If that worries you, then you may do two trees at a time, but you will need to keep the partners together since this is freely cut without templates.

2. Place your ruler at a tree angle you like and slice through all four layers at once.
**Don't make these angles too sharp, or you will not have enough fabric to square to 3.5" in the end.

3. Now make a second slice to form the tree shape. Be sure to allow at least a 1/2" from the side edges.

4. Take the top tree and place it on the bottom of the tree stack. This shuffles the fabrics.

Piecing
1. First sew the left side of the tree to the background. Note that things won't line up perfectly; trim the extra bit of fabric as shown below, so you have a straight edge. Press to the background.

2. Now sew the background piece to the right side of the tree. Press to the background. Trim the bottom edge straight. Square this unit to approximately 3" tall by 3.5" wide.
**Tip: ensure you have 0.5" or more about the tree top. Make four.

3. Sew a 1" x 1.25" rectangle of tree trunk fabric between two 1.25" x 1.75" rectangles of background fabric. Press to the background fabric. Make four. You now have this:

Note that the tree section wasn't trimmed when I took this photo.

4. Sew the trunk unit to the tree unit. Press the seam open or to one side. Square the mini tree blocks to 3.5". Set aside.

Large trees
1. Cut a 7.5" x 6" rectangle of background fabric and the same of tree fabric. Place the tree fabric atop the background having the 7.5" width at the lower edge. Cut a tree triangle shape as you did for the mini trees.

2.  Stitch and press as you did for the mini trees. Trim the bottom edge straight. Square the large tree unit to approximately 5.5" tall by 6.5" wide. Make two.

3. Sew a 1.75" x 1.25" trunk piece between two 1.75" x 3.25" rectangles of background fabric. Make two of these units. This unit will measure 6.75" x 1.75"; you will trim it to fit the tree unit after joining.

4. Join the tree unit to the trunk unit. Trim so that it measures 6.5" square.

You now have the following:

Assembly

Arrange these so that you have one large tree with two mini trees on one side as in the first photo of this post. Sew the two mini trees together, one above the other. Then sew this unit to the side of the large tree block. Square to 6.5" x 9.5".

Layer with batting (great to use up scraps) and a backing piece cut approximately 7" x 10". Quilt. I had fun with my metallic threads, Holoshimmer by Sulky, and the most perfect variegated Sulky rayon. I also used Aurifil 2600 in the white/grey areas, and pieced everything on my 1947 Featherweight with pale blue Gütermann.

Both were quilted on my Bernina. I did swirls, echoes, pebbles, dot to dot, a loops and snowflakes meander, and flowing lines. Fun!

When done quilting, square it up and bind. I did a single-fold binding, cut at 1.25" wide, applied to the back, and then top-stitched down to the front.

Here's the back:

My impatiens are hanging onto summer as much as I am!

I used the mittens and toques fabric on one, and the pale green fabric I used for the tree trunks on the other.

I got my Angela Walters cup out (fitting because I pulled out her Shape By Shape 2 for inspiration) to see how it went with these:

I'd say pretty fine! Turquoise is such a beautiful colour.

How would you like to win a few fat quarters of these fabrics for yourself? Maybe make this mug rug or one of the others on the hop this week? If you'd like to see all the fabrics (there are 25!) in Amanda's collection, and read about her designs, click here.

Tuesday: The Benartex Blog Design Team - they used the games fabric to create two mug rugs in motion!
Wednesday: me! at mmm! quilts
Thursday: Debby Kratovil Quilts

To keep costs down, Benartex is sending to US residents only please. Just answer this question: have you ever made a mug rug and do you use it? Followers, new ones welcome, can get a second entry if you tell me how you follow me. See the top of my sidebar for where to find me beneath my profile. Due to the large volume of comments during giveaways, I won't be responding to comments. Be sure to leave your address in your comment if you are a no-reply blogger, like this:  ephdra (at) gmail (dot) com.  Thank you for your understanding while I work my way through comments on the last two posts; things have been pretty hectic and stressful at my house this past 10 days. My previous post explains why.
Good luck!

The giveaway is open through Friday, Oct. 20 11:59 EDT. I'll announce the winner on my blog on Saturday. GIVEAWAY HAS NOW CLOSED.

Sunday! (just been rather preoccupied with a very ill doggie, sorry): The winner is #70, Abbigail, and she has been contacted. She uses mug rugs all the time. ☕

Thank you to all who entered, and commented, and welcome to new followers. I've been using one of my mug rugs all week! I find they are perfect for the morning coffee or afternoon tea when I am having something small to eat. If you make one of these, please send me a photo and with your permission, I'd love to post it on my blog.

Linking up in lots of places!
Free Motion By the River
Sew Fresh Quilts
Quilt Fabrication
My Quilt Infatuation

Dog Gone Cute Blocks OMG

I needed to keep the October goal simple and sweet because I'm away for a part of the month. I do have another goal to complete by the end of October (a long shot is TWO quilts) but I put them on my Q4 FAL list, so didn't want to double up here. So my OMG goal was to make two 12X18" Dog Gone Cute blocks. The original post is here.

They are going to Karen at kaholly for her to take to Texas this winter. You can read here about the wonderful plans she has to help raise funds for Second Chance Farm who is helping take care of animals whose humans can't take care of them with the devastation of Hurricane Harvey.

I came up with the colour scheme based on our two beloved dogs, Naala

who is a Rottweiler. This one is all batik fabrics except for the background.

I did Dog 3. I've made Dog 1 already.
The second one is for Rocco.

He is grey and white, and when he was a baby, he had the most gorgeous blue eyes. This one uses cottons, the swirly grey is a great one from Connecting Threads, and the eyes are a bit of turquoise left from the Meadow Dance fabric I used in Ribbon Stars.

As a few bloggers have said, these are like potato chips, betcha can't make just one! Lorna sells the complete pattern but you can also find the instructions in her blog posts. Dog 3 is here.

I don't think a week has gone by for some time that my heart swells and I have a lump in my throat (called 'moral elevation' by psychologists, in Option B by Sheryl Sandberg) at the good that is being done in the quilting world. I wish I could do more, but doing the little bits here and there that I can, I know, all adds up, as they say.

Since I wrote this post, just this morning I've learned of another cause, that of remembering the 70 273 physically and mentally disabled people who were murdered by the Nazis between 1940-41.

I had a DrEAMi! and yep, literally dropped everything to make a couple of blocks to send away. You can read more about this project here at The Barefoot Heart.

From pulling fabric to taking the photo, these two blocks took half an hour, a very quick way to help.

On a final note, please send some healing vibes and good thoughts via the big dog in the sky to our darling third daughter, Naala, pictured below with our second daughter, Dayna.

Just a month ago at Dayna's

She was hemorrhaging internally; we came very close to losing her. She had to have an emergency splenectomy on Friday, and although she is such a trooper, doing very well despite her 10 years 7 1/2 months of age and after major surgery, she has a long road ahead. We should know results of the histopathology in about a week, so if you have a moment, please pray she is in the 25% of dogs whose tumours on the spleen are benign.

48 hours after surgery, Sunday morning:

Smiled for the camera though:

Today, Monday, MacGyver is out cutting grass, and Naala cannot, nor does she want to, be left alone, which means I can't sew because my studio is upstairs. So 'If the mountain will not come to Muhammad....'

Lots of rugs on the floors to help with her traction

Reason #333 why I love my Featherweights, this one whose story I have yet to tell you! So I'm sewing in the kitchen, cutting and pressing station set up to the right on the counter!

Love portable sewing equipment.

We've been stalled on the last stage of the kitchen reno for various reasons, this latest, Naala, who must be kept very quiet for the next while as she adjusts to having no spleen, and has to make rather a lot of blood. Her PCV count was dangerously low, but it had risen one point, to 18, the morning after her surgery, so she's heading in the right direction. A high protein diet with extra chicken, liver, etc. is helping her on the road to recovery.

Linking up
Cooking Up Quilts
Elm Street Quilts

A Little Stash to Share

A couple of posts ago, I told you that I'd been unable to resist joining in with the Geode QAL with Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts. I've loved floral fabrics forever, bought and also made many dresses, skirts for myself and outfits for my daughters with beautiful floral fabrics. When I saw Bernie's post on Instagram of this fat quarter selection of 'Wild Bloom', bari j's latest line, which she is carrying in her Etsy shop, it beckoned me, floated into my subconsciousness, and then bobbed up into my consciousness whispering, 'you need me'. I'd already intended to buy a rainbow stripe from Bernie for one of my three RSC2017 projects.  This is from Andover, 'And Z' by Kim Schaefer. It needed company on the long trek across the country from west to east right? Bernie also sent a fat quarter gift (aww! she's so sweet) of the text fabric which I plan to incorporate in my Splash of Colour QAL.

Round about Wednesday you can watch for my turn on the 'Winter Games' by Amanda Murphy blog hop on Benartex's Sew In Love With Fabric blog. Here are the fabrics I'll be working with:

I love a fresh take on Christmas colours, and there's just something about turquoises and red with some lime that I find myself more and more drawn to. Check back on Wednesday to see what I make! To be honest, at this point in time, I can't wait to see what I make, lol.

A little surprise for me was seeing that Craftsy (affiliate link there and below) is having a decent sale (up to 50% off) this weekend on kits and supplies (maybe I was snoozing and deleted an email from them? Was not aware...) Just letting you know that one of the kits I bought on a previous sale is back on sale again, along with other kits, and all the Dutch Garden line:

It is really beautiful fabric and a very reasonable price. I am glad to see they have added in the 'what you get' description that the 4 2/3 total yardage is comprised of 5 charm packs and 1 yard. I had planned to make a different quilt, and had expected yardage, but now I look again at the stars one, I'm liking it a lot more!
As always I thank you so very much for using my links to click through as I get a commission if you make a purchase. 🙏 I only am an affiliate for products I do buy myself from companies I patronize.

Linking up
Sunday Stash at Molli Sparkles

Meadow Dance Blog Hop - Baby Quilt Tutorial

A few weeks ago I was part of a blog hop for Amanda Murphy's new line of fabric, Meadow Dance on Benartex's blog, Sew In Love With Fabric. This fabric is so pretty that  I couldn't choose just a few, so, because I'd made this quilt twice already, and had requests for a pattern, I thought it would be the perfect occasion to show off all the fabrics in the line as well as make me write up a pattern. Now that the hop is over, I can share the tutorial right here on my blog.

I was super-excited to be asked to take part in the hop for Meadow Dance. I have been a fan of Amanda's designs and her quilting for some time, and I own her book, Modern Holiday, but this is the first time I've worked with her fabric. And what a line!  Love! The various prints work so beautifully together.  Here is the quilt, Ribbon Stars, on a farmer's fence, in a meadow! Get it?

A Couple of Blogging Tips

Here are two tutorials; the first is the tutorial for how to find out some stats on your blog. Normally I rarely pay attention to these, but during giveaways, it's nice to determine whether the person picked actually does follow you if they are getting an extra entry for doing so, right? You know how you can subscribe to favourite blogs by email so you never miss a post; well, as a blogger, how do you find that list of subscribers to your blog? I use blogger, so I do not know if this applies to Wordpress or other blog formats. Disclaimer: I am no tech savvy person! All I know is from Googling stuff or trial and error.

1. First of all, go to feedburner.google.com. You may have to sign in to your Google account. Once you do, you should get a screen like this:

2.  Click on your blog name. It will take you to the Feed Stats Dashboard where there are four tabs. You will automatically be in the Analyze tab (I love Troubleshootize - they have a bit of a sense of humour no? Look at the phrase after 'My Feeds' in the photo above!
Click on the Subscribers tab on the left side of the page.

3. Scroll down (under the green circle) to Feedburner Email Subscriptions and click on it. You will see 'Manage Your Email Subscriber List' pop up. Click on it. The page looks like this (I've scrolled down part way, but cut off the first actual email address to protect that person's privacy):

Note that you can get to this page by clicking the Publicize tab and going to the left menu and clicking on 'Subscription Management' if you prefer. You will see that I have 461 subscribers, but on the first page it shows 385. I believe that is because some of the subscribers never complete the subscription process. You sign up, and then you get an email to confirm your subscription, right? I think some people never confirm it. I'm pretty sure that in the status column beside the subscriber's email address 'unverified' means that the person did not confirm. Feel free to correct me in the comments below if I don't have this right.  Note that you have the power to both delete a subscriber, and to deactivate delivery of your posts to a subscriber. 😮😳

It is pretty easy to scroll through the list to confirm a winner's subscription. You can click 'Email Address' to sort alphabetically, or 'Start Date' to sort by date.

Hope this helps!
To find your followers on bloglovin', go to your profile and click on Followers. Easy! However, there doesn't seem to be a list format, or a sort feature...

picmonkey woes

The day I had to send my tutorial for Let Your Star Shine for publication on Sew In Love With Fabric, Tish texted me to say picmonkey was apparently no longer free.  wtf was my response and panic ensued.  Once I calmed down, and no more bad words were flying around, my thoughts went like this:

There is a way to edit photos on my laptop...😼 ...sigh, but I still have to bring them in from iCloud...

or...can I do it right in iCloud?🔮...

... or wait, could I do it on my iPhone?🙌🙏💪

A quick Google and yip-yip-yippee I could. Yay!!🎉🎊 Now I don't have to rely on a third party, be at their whim as to them suddenly charging me for their service like picmonkey, or suddenly removing the ability to embed a link on a button I make, like photobucket, grrr.

Here is the second tutorial for today's post.

If you are like me, and take your quilt photos with your iPhone, simply do this:
1. Bring up the photo on your phone.  Tap 'Edit'.
2. To enhance the photo, tap the wand icon in the top right. It turns golden.
3. Tap the little circle with 3 dots in it, aka apparently a hamburger. Then tap the felt pen 'Markup' icon.
4. To watermark your photo, tap the +. Tap 'Text' where you will get a textbox in which to write.
5. If you want a different font, tap the AA where you can choose, and you can use the slider to resize it. Tapping the black circle (not a good colour on a black background, right) will allow you to choose the font colour. To write in the box, tap it, and tap 'edit' which will have your keyboard pop up.
6. To move the textbox, simply drag it where you want. Note that you need to touch the textbox to get the little side circles or 'handles' to appear if they have disappeared (ask me how I know) so that you can drag it to where you want it.

You can crop your photos too, very easily. Tap 'Edit'.
1. Now tap the crop/rotate icon at the bottom beside the word 'Cancel'. You can rotate, yes, but if you 'grab' as in put your finger on, one of the four corner frame thingies (great term, remember I'm no tech guru) you can pull in the corners to crop your photo. You can move the crop area wherever you want it by simply dragging it to the part of the photo you desire to keep.

Voilà! (French for 'there or here you go!' or 'here you are!' - I can hear my mother correcting my Canadian English to British English) just please don't write 'Viola!' thinking you've written a French word, because you haven't, that's either a member of the violin family or a flower, take your pick. 😁


One quick fabric tip (enough of the tech stuff!): did you know Connecting Threads (affiliate link) doesn't just sell their own line of fabrics? However, Emma and Myrtle by Amanda Jean of crazymomquilts and Glacier Peak, two new ones I particularly love, keep calling me. Just sayin'... A few months ago, I snagged several lines in the clearance section which I keep forgetting to show you:

As you can see from the one selvage I was sure to show, these are five pieces from 'Hazel' by Allison Harris. Under $5/yard, yes please and thank you!

Here are four pieces of various C&S as well as a Valori Wells, whose fabric I really like, although I don't own very much, hmmm...but this--?! Books! Blue! Into my cart it went in a flash. All under $5/yard.

Always pays (yourself, right?!) to check the sale or clearance section in quilt shops, be they online or IRL. What I particularly like about Connecting Threads is that they ship to Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom free if you spend $75. That's pretty darn sweet.