Wheat Free Eating

Recently I have been experiencing problems with exzema on one hand and a few small patches other places. I read something about someone who went on a wheat free diet and it helped their psoriasis alot. So I thought after over a year of trying all sorts of solutions including going to a dermatologist several time that I would check into this wheat free thing.

So I did some searching online and found the Wheat Belly Diet.  I also read other threads pertaining to wheat free eating. I had already cut out bread and now seriously considered cutting out all wheat.

Surprisingly I found wheat is in alot of things I just wouldn't have thought about. Like soups and my sugar free koolaid has a wheat warning. There isn't any wheat as an ingredient but there is a possibility it was processed in a plant where products containing wheat were also processed. So if you are allergic or have Celiac disease then you need to avoid this product. However I am not giving up my koolaid! at least not yet.

We gave up pop a couple of months ago or more. So I drink only water and sugar free koolaid. As I am not diagnosed as allergic I am not going to worry too much about a trace at this point.

Now on to the good news!  My hand has greatly improved and I am so ecstatic for that. I also have been suffering breathing problems for years. I have been wheat free for almost 3 wks and I noticed a few days ago I am not having the suffocating episodes that make me stop and catch my breath every little while when I try to  do anything.  It is sooooo much better.

I have tried to exercise to lose weight and I can't get past doing 10 of any type of excersize like touch toes etc.   Yesterday I tried it just to see how my breathing would be affected and I did 50!!!! touch toes and no breathing problems!!!

I may have discovered a Wheat allergy I didn't know I had.  So I am a firm believer in going Wheat free!!   It may not be for everyone but it is really been good for me

I weighed myself this morning and I have lost 6 pounds in the last 2 weeks.  One of the reasons I started this was to se if I could lose weight the easy way. I haven't done any more exercising and haven't done anything but go wheat and gluten free. 


This may be a life long thing for me now!!    Rhonda

Making HSTs My Way!

Do you have trouble making HSTs? I think my method is really easy. No dog ears no cutting out squares and sewing down the middle on each side of a line.

A mini cutting mat or a turntable cutting mat would be good. You can cut without a mini but it would make it easier to do.

You will need a template of whatever size you are making. If you don't have a template you can cut one from stiff cardboard or template plastic but these will be prone to getting cut. And the corners may not be accurate with cardboard or thin plastic.

But you won't have to buy any thing to make your HSTs. No paper piecing or Thangles or any other expense.

If you need a template just let me know.  I send out a 2 1/2" and a 1 1/2" for free.

We make these up ahead and then have them on hand for whatever I decide to make. This works well with scraps too. I just make two piles one dark colors and one light and then I take one of each and sew them together and then cut out the square from the center. You can sew them like flags and it goes pretty quick. Then we go back and cut out the squares. Any leftovers can be recycled.

Ok here we go. Here is my cut down version for making Half Square Triangles.

I used a 2 1/2" template and cut my strips 2 1/2" x 11"
This will give you 5 HSTs. You can make your strips longer but this works well for me.

Turn your mat and cut along the next side

Sew your two strips together

Iron the seams open for a flat surface

Place your template on the strips at the bottom. Place two corners on the seam. Make sure your corners are accurately placed for a better HST

Cut along one side

Continue turning the mat and cutting as you cut the other two sides

                   

Now the pieces that are left at the top and bottom can be used to make a 4 patch. There is very little waste with this method.

The two ends facing each other

Trim the edges

Match up the seams

The two seams together

I like to tack the seams so they can't move when I sew

Use a template to cut out the 4 patch Make sure your template corners are on the seams accurately or your 4 patch will be off on the corners

Sew them together

And voila a 4 patch!

Pieced Patchwork Cell Phone Case
by Rhonda Woodsmall

Cell phone case with cell phone in it!

If you like patchwork and need a cell phone case that is pretty enough to show off your quilting skills this is for you! Here I will show you how to make a cell phone case using a quilt block for interest.

Pieced top front

Back

You will need:

Usual sewing supplies
 Sewing machine - thread - pins etc.
 Cutting mat(mini) and a rotary cutter
 Small ruler

Template

You will need a 1 1/2" acrylic template or use your own method. Just make sure you end up with 1 1/2" HST squares however you choose to make them! You can use any template, but if you want to use one of mine, just email me at patchesbyr@yahoo.com (Rhonda) and I will send you a free template.

Small print cotton for the Half Square Triangles(HST)

You can use scraps or any print you want.

You are only making 8 - 1 1/2" half square triangles, so you'll need a med. Green strip and a contrasting (I used a light here) strip.

I cut mine 11" by 2".

Here you can see how I cut out the HST's from the center. After you cut out down the center then pull the strips apart and sew the other sides together so you can continue to cut out squares from the center.

If you do scrappy, I use swatches instead of strips and cut each one out.

Small print cotton fabric for the case

Dk Green - 1 swatch - approx. 4" by 5"
Dk Green - 1 swatch - approx. 4" by 2"
Dk Green - 1 swatch - approx. 4" by 8"
Dk Green - 1 swatch - approx. 4" by 5"

You need to cut one square for the center out of whatever fabric you want.

Make sure you have a straight edge on one side of all the fabric swatches and strips. It is better to have a piece that is larger than you need and trim down than find you cut the swatch or strip too short!!

Batting - traditional is best

1 piece about 5" by 8"
1 piece about 5" by 5"

These sizes are only suggestions. I cut larger than I need, and then I trim to the size I need after I have sewn things together.

Also you need to measure your cell phone and adjust the math to fit. Adding borders is another way to make your top bigger without changing the size of your template when you make the HST's

Putting the quilt block together!

We are using half square triangles in this quilt block.

Quilt Block

Layout

Lay the HST's in rows as shown above. Then sew each row together and then sew the rows together to get this quilt block. Make sure you trim your quilt block so it will look square.

Tip:

When my blocks don't match up as well as I'd like I look to see where I can tighten up the seam. Sew along. On the inside of the seam to make your seam more straight.

Completing the cell phone case!!

Pin the pieced quilt block to the dk green 4" by 2" swatch. Sew the swatch onto the quilt block. Open and iron the seam open.

Pin the Dk Green 4" by 5" swatch to the opposite side from the one you just added. Sew the swatch to the quilt block. Open and iron the seam. I trimmed the smaller swatch to 1" You can make it whatever size you prefer.

Trim the added swatches to the same size as the quilt block.

Backing the halves

Lay the top for the cell phone face down onto the dk green 4" by 8" swatch (liner). Pin it in place and trim the liner even with the top. Lay this top face down onto the larger batting piece. Pin the three layers together. Trim the batting even with the top.

Now you should have a top (with the quilt block) backside down onto the batting and the liner should be face to face with the top so you should see the backside of the liner at the top of this sandwich.

(Obviously do as I say and not as I do -I just noticed I forgot to put the pieced top into the middle of the sandwich!!. I usually do because it is easier to sew where there are no seams to go over. Oh well!! Do it how you want!)

Repeat the step with the other dk green swatches. You won't have a quilt block to work around and the swatches should be 5" not 8".

Trim the back half even with the front half.

I used a DVD to trace the round edge. Just mark with a pen and trim. You could use a plate or glass or a plastic lid etc.

Begin at the bottom about 1 1/2" from the left side and backstitch. Now sew around the edge of the top until you get back to the bottom. Stop sewing 1 1/2" from the other side-- leave an opening to turn the top right side out and backstitch!

Turn the top right side out. Use a turning tool to poke the corners out or if the corners look OK just leave them. Iron the half. You can poke in the fabric at the opening so it is even with the rest of that edge.

Repeat the step with the other swatches to make the back half.

Now you should have two halves of the cell phone case put together. Sew a finishing seam around the outer edge of the top half. And across the top of the back half. I closed the bottom here also.

Now you should have two halves that look like this.

Pin the back to the inside of the top and sew from the top right corner down to the bottom across the bottom and back up to the left upper corner. Backstitch several times at both top corners to withstand heavy use. I like to sew across the bottom at least twice so it will not come apart with use.

Now add the velcro to your cell phone case. I just whipstitched it on. If you add it before you put the halves together you can machine stitch it on. Mine is a little off center but oh well!! I took it off and redid it once and I am not going to do it again!!

I added a longer strip of Velcro so the case could be closed at different places. Some phones are bigger than others.


As I mentioned before, you can email me at patchesbyr@yahoo.com (Rhonda) to get a free template or to ask any questions.

13 Ways to Make Different Designs From One Quilt Block

I have developed shortcut methods I call my cut down methods. Using this idea I have several units I call "Blocks" The shortcut method or cut down method means you cut swatches of fabric. Sew them together and then cut out a square from the center. Saves time and effort and allows you to make intricate looking quilt blocks with easy steps. Great for beginners.

If you like this lesson you can find more Wings information and more original designs by me in my
 EBook - Wings  available for only $10 here - http://www.bitsnpiecesworkshop.com/
Click on the picture of the Wings Block and you will see a preview of some of the pages in the book.

so I was playing with a quilt block and I want to show you how you can take one Quilt Block and turn the blocks to make 13 differant looks with the same 16 "Blocks" this "Block" is made with my Wings Block.

You can find the directions for making this "Block" here

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-60682-1


I send out 2 free acrlic templates to anyone who asks. A 2 1/2" and a 1 1/2". The Wings directions uses a 30 degree template also and that template is available for free upon request. Please send your address to patchesbyr@yahoo.com and please mention you saw it here on my blog. Thanks Rhonda

I have since developed paper templates(Not paper piecing) you can  use in place of the 30 degree template.

 http://www.quiltingboard.com/tutorials-f10/wings-block-swatch-alternative-t104927.html
http://www.quiltingboard.com/tutorials-f10/rhondas-wing-blocks-paper-template-tutorial-t106744.html
 
 After I post all the quilt blocks and layouts I will show you how to take one quilt block and by changing colors you can make new looks just by using color in differant ways.
This is important to now so when you choose your fabrics you will have the look you want in your finished product. The way you use light dark and medium fabrics is very important. You have to be aware of how one plays againts another color. You need to decide if you want stong contrast or if you want the fabrics to blend together. So I will show you some examples of good choices and bad choices at least in my opinion!

Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions! Thanks Rhonda

Block 4

Block 4 layout

This is the Wings Block. It looks hard but it isn't!! Once you learn to make these you can make all sorts of great patterns!

Block 1 The original quilt block I started with

Block 1 layout

Block 2 All I did was turn the blocks around

Block 2 layout

Block 3

Layout 3

Block 5 layout

Block 5 -- LOL this one makes me think of teeth! LOL

Block 6

Block 6 layout

Block 7

Block 7 layout

Block 8

Block 8 layout

Block 9

Block 9 layout

Block 10

Block 10 layout

Block 11

Block 11 layout

Block 12

Block 12 layout

Block 13

Block 13 layout

 

 Now for the fun part!! LOL I love color!! So when you add color you gain a whole new world of possibilities.

Where you choose to put the colors and how you choose to layer color values or the differant hues of one color makes alot of differance in how your quilt block looks. You can choose large print or small print or anything in between. but the important part is how much differance there is betwee two colors that are close together. You can highlight a part of the quilt block or make part of it fade into the background depending on where you put color. So understanding the use of color in your quilt block will help you get a better looking quilt block in the end.

Here I will show you some of the ways I would use color and then I will show you some of the ways I think are not effective. But it is really all in your eye and what you want your quilt block to look like.

Look at Block 12 above, Here I chose to add differant colors in what I see as butterflies in this design.

Here is the same block but I used solid black in the two corners instead of the wing blocks

Here I used the same arrangement of colors as above but I changed the center blocks to lt blue as well. This has the effect of making the outer blue and the inner blue recede into the background and makes the darker /brighter colors pop out more.If I had used the same lt blue in the center it would have blended more with the corner blues. As it is this color of blue makes the center blue step down a bit but not all the way in the back ground.

These colors are ok but not anything to write home about in my opinion. But it is all in the eye of the beholder!!

This started as Block 3 above. Here I decided to put two colors in opposite corners. I really like these colors. They really make the design stand out!

This color choice is ok but I think it is only ok.

This one is acceptable but in my opinion it all blends together too much for me. But if you were doing a tone on tone type of quilt you might like this color set.

So here I went back to the black and used brights. Very effective for high contrast. May be too bright.

When you change dark to light you get a diferant look to the quilt block You can direct the eye to differant parts of the quilt block by where you choose to put the color and what value of that color you use(light or dark etc) You can see I used lilght blue in place of the black on the corners which made the pink/yellow corners take on a differant look. They are now the outer edge of the design instead of being in the middle of the design.

Here you can see the effect I was talking about. This looks to me like the dark blue/pink/yellow lays ontop of a lt blue background square.

This one look at the yellow and green in the middle of the sides.

Here I want you to see the sides where the yellow and green were half and half. Now I changed the colors so the yellow is at the bottom of those two blocks and the green is the center like a diamond

Here is another color choice for this quilt block. I want you to notice that the colors I used for the yellow parts blend together,. Here I wanted to get the box like effect of those parts of the quilt block so I used two colors that would blend. When I used contrasting colors I didn't like it because it was too seperate looking.

Here is the color combo I don't like,. The blue is too dark and is not a print fabric so it over powers the yellow print.

Ok LOL back to my original train of thought! This is my favorite color arrangement for this block. I think it is so elegant looking!

Here I used the dark pink with the dark blue and they coexist much better as they are the same type of fabric. In this case I want the box (the dk blue and dk pink lines make me think of a box around the center design)to show up and if I use two fabrics for it they need to play nice together. since I used the dark pink I didn't want the dk pink in the middle. so I changed it to yellow and wanted to show y ou how you can use two colors in the corner blocks. If I use a color in the center then I need to bring that color out somewhere else in the design. So I put it in the corners. It gives it a 9 patch look if you look at only the yellow parts. 4 yellows on the corners and the ones in the middle are 5 areas of yellow in the same way as a 9 patch.

Ok Back to this block. I started with this block.

 

Ok now here is another train of thought I wanted to show you.

I started with this block

Then I turned the blocks to this quilt block

Then I turned the center blocks only to this pattern

Now I saw the egg shaped areas in the center and thought I would change the colors there. But I didn't like the looks of it.

I turned the blocks again but this is really one I DON"T like!!! This one is not a good one to use at all!!!

Here is another color choice for this block but it still isn't one I would use.

Here I turned the top row and the bottom row dk pink and the lt yellow I turned it green. These look like space ships to me! The kind they had in asteroids - one of the old arcade games

Space ships anyone?? LOL I do think this one would make a great space ship quilt for a kid!!

                  

I hope you enjoyed the lesson!!!   I will be posting more lessons soon!